The Only Republican in San Francisco

Today I had a pleonasm

Is it possible that this sentence of words in engaging in the occurrence of the phenomenon of pleonasm?

I like new words — my favorite of the past year is schadenfreude — though it may be hard to actually find a use for the above without sounding a bit pedantic. You know I'll try...

Digging deeper on net neutrality

Richard Bennett is doing an excellent job of laying into the absurd and faux-technical sophistry of the net neutrality crowd. He understands that the current Internet is simply not designed for the coming wave of real-time applications. His arguments are in line with mine that all technical options need to be on the table, and to preclude them by law is an abomination.

In previous posts, I have said that I would agree with neutrality — to the extent that we can even define it — if that’s what the market chooses. I am even beginning to back away from that assertion.

Richard points out the the current architecture of the ‘net was designed around delivering email to weapons scientists. As such, a “best effort” net was OK, based on an assumption of intermittency and asynchronous (non-real-time) communications. In many ways, this architecture was revolutionary; it is resilient and durable in less than ideal circumstances, and is a good platform for non-technical folks. No small accomplishment.

That said, I have come to realize that, yes, real-time bits should — must — be given priority over non-real-time bits. A one-second delay is perfectly acceptable for an email message, but a deal-breaker for video. Like every other market, efficiency and growth require a prioritization of resources. Neutrality legislation would make this illegal.

We need to grow up if we are to move forward. Sites like YouTube are great but the future is not in artifact-ridden, 4-inch-wide video. It’s cute, but it’s not even up to the standards of 1960s era TV. The question is, where do we want to be in 2010?

Neutrality predictions already coming true

One of my many arguments against net neutrality legislation is that it involves the federal government in an issue with which it wasn’t involved previous. We do not currently have neutrality legislation, and the variety and size of the Internet are growing apace. We are doing very well.

I am not against neutrality as an outcome, if that is what the consumer demands. Sounds fine to me, I might even demand it too.

My opposition is to a neutrality mandate from government. The federal government is obese, muscle-bound and senile, and there is simply no such thing as a light touch, no matter how hard they try.

Further, by setting a precedent for government dictating the architecture and performance the network, there is no limit on future regulation. How about search engine neutrality, for example? Google is a major gateway to a lot of sites, and shouldn’t we mandate fairness? Seems only right. All the arguments for network neutrality apply.

The reason I bring this up is that my warnings of unintended government encroachment are already coming true. Today, a House committee approved a strongly regulatory approach to the issue. And many normally free-market Republicans voted for it. Why? To expand their turf:

In an unusual twist, many members of the committee said they were voting for the legislation not because of strong concerns over Net neutrality--but instead because of a turf battle. They said they were worried that a competing proposal already approved by a different committee last month would diminish their own influence in the future.

Can you believe it? Whatever light touch neutrality proponents were promising has already gone out the window, due to the very nature of big government. Today, the government grabbed power over the 'net that it didn’t have before.

Folks, the issue with neutrality is not that we don’t have good intentions. The goals of neutrality are fine. But giving that power to the government is a recipe for pain.

VDH on anti-anti-Americanism

Here is a great piece by Victor Davis Hanson on the extraordinary corruption of the world at large, especially in regards to anti-Americanism. Read the whole thing.

The essence of it is that, as the last superpower in the world, as the last country willing and able to forcefully pursue democratic ideals, we have become demonized in public discourse, but as popular as ever when needed.

My personal feeling is that the best evidence of the popularity of our way of life is the extraordinary desire of the people of the world to come here. There are very few places in the world with such a demand for citizenship, and fewer still that are able to handle it. We not only handle it, but benefit from it.

Even after 9/11 and Katrina, our economy seems unstoppable. Of course things can change, but we’ve created more jobs under Bush than all of Europe has in the last 30 years. I think we are doing something right, and we should not be entirely surprised that we are resented for it.

Those in power find a certain populist message when railing against America. It is essentially an eat-the-rich message, but behind the scenes, these leaders simultaneously prefer to be in our favor.

Having just come back from the UK, I can tell you that I experienced precisely no anti-Americanism. I was treated as, well, a visitor to be entertained and a new friend. I think that is illustrative of a larger fact: anti-Americanism is a product of the elite.

When people vote with their feet, and their money, they often choose America, or at least the American way (free markets, free speech, opportunity). I am not aware of people lining up at the border to enter the countries housing our harshest critics.

Folks, think for yourself, think about the things you value, and then look at the places in the world where these things are possible.

Hello from London

Hello friends, sorry for the lapse in blogging. I am over in London, and, although I’ve been here previous, I have come to realise that London and NYC are the same city separated by a very wide river.

The Brits do drink, natch, but more importantly they are either way ahead or way behind the US in political correctness. Thank God, or god. They still smoke in bars and restaurants, unlike NYC and San Francisco, though I am assured that this will be ending in Britain soon. Ah, the puritan spirit — from Britain to the New World and back again.

I had the privilege of joining Martin Geddes for a quick drink in the Angel district, just up the road from where I am staying. I have come to admire Martin for his clear and persuasive thinking on net neutrality.

A charming and intellectually energetic man, and a kindred spirit on issues of economic liberty. We despaired at how normally libertarian folks seem to be drinking the Kool Aid on net neutrality. As Martin put it, have we all abandoned the basics of Chicago (and Austrian) economics? Thankfully the National Review has chimed in with a reasonable position.

But what is the deal with our dearest Glenn Reynolds and other Vast Right Wing Conspirators supporting this new regulation? Or course big business is predatory. We know this. If we have learned nothing since Marx, it is that the only progressive, permanent solution to greed is free-market competition. Government can’t fix it, short of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

With something as dynamic and evolving as the Internet, I demand nothing less than free reign for those who choose to participate. To do otherwise is to fossilize it in its adolescence. Motives be damned, animal spirits be praised.

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Aside: Tonight, at the pub, I learned the etymology of the word “posh”, from an Indian-Brit. She told me that it signifies the status of those who took boats to India during imperial times. It is an acronym for “Port Out, Starboard Home”. Those were the sunny sides of the boat during the round trip, and worth a fancy penny back in the day.

Who needs politics...

...when you’ve got Stairway to Heaven, sung backwards, then played backwards, resulting in something vaguely Dutch?

Surry bout that

Seems like Typead (my blog host) had an outage, so I was offline for a few hours. It looks like we are back. Well, if you are reading this, we are back. If you are not reading this, then we are still offline.