 Look, I understand this instinct of people to Gravitate towards Joe Biden because Donald Trump is so terrible and it seems like lately Donald Trump has been more horrible than usual So I mean orange man bad. I get it. I get it, right? Having said that we can't lie to ourselves I think we have to be realistic and temper our expectations. This man is not going to be the next FDR Joe Biden is not going to govern as a progressive because we have an extensive history to look at to see how he's governed And I'd be surprised if he was even as progressive as Obama and Obama was no progressive So, you know the positive aspects of a Joe Biden administration are limited to one He's not Donald Trump to he will replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg most likely and three he'll handle COVID-19 Like an adult and that's fine, but don't expect, you know, more than we should I think we have to be realistic now part of being realistic about Joe Biden goes both ways I also want to give him credit words do because he recently commented on net neutrality and his plan for net neutrality is surprisingly good and whenever I Hear about a policy position from Joe Biden that is, you know, outside the realm of what I stated as his positives I'm always skeptical because this individual isn't necessarily known for being truthful, right? But in this area He can't actually really make a difference by just doing one simple thing Appointing an FCC chair that is not a jeep pie now in the realm of net neutrality What Joe Biden is promising is to actually go further than Barack Obama And even if he personally chooses to abandon this issue Who he chooses as FCC chair can make all the difference and what he's saying is that he doesn't just want to restore net neutrality But he actually actively wants to encourage public municipal broadband which would solve this issue permanently and This would be a game changer. This would be a game changer So I would add this to the positives of Joe Biden and I'll explain a little bit more But as John Egerton of multi-channel news reports Joe Biden has signaled that if he becomes president His FCC will restore the net neutrality rules and FCC oversight authority The Republican FCC jettisoned in the restoring internet freedom order as well as working to undo state laws Blocking municipal broadband and invest even more in those projects the FCC is an independent agency But Biden would get to choose the chairman and have the majority So it is likely the pendulum would indeed swing back toward the net neutrality rules pushed by President Barack Obama Biden's former boss Biden also signaled He would not only fight state efforts that block municipalities and rural co-ops from building publicly owned broadband networks But invested federal funds in Muni broadband and for the Lifeline Universal Service Fund subsidy that goes to low-income residents So children and families can fully participate in school work and Life from their homes as millions of Americans have stayed at home to prevent the spread of the pandemic It is plain to see that in the 21st century the internet is not optional It is a vital tool for participating in the economy and all Americans need access to high-speed affordable broadband service The campaign said now let's hold for a second because the signal that we're getting about the way that his administration would go Comes from a recommendation By the unity task force now you all know I was shitting on the unity task force because this is just a recommendation that is printed off and Handed to Joe Biden so he can unilaterally choose to shoot it down and Considering the fact that he literally kicked off his campaign at the home of a Comcast executive I'm not gonna blame people for being skeptical of Joe Biden here and his intentions with regard to net neutrality but yet in spite of that I'm still optimistic because I followed this issue for a very long time and What the president does with regard to net neutrality? It doesn't necessarily matter as much as a lot of people would think so Donald Trump He does not know what net neutrality is going into the presidency He made one comment about net neutrality on Twitter and he said something about oh, this is just the fairness doctrine So he said he's against it But that clearly shows that he doesn't know what net neutrality is so I mean the FCC chair has a relatively large degree of autonomy and Trump his administration dismantled net neutrality without him actually knowing what net neutrality is So let's assume that Joe Biden doesn't actually accept this recommendation And even in saying this he's lying well that doesn't necessarily matter so long as He appoints an FCC chair who is pro-net neutrality now There is an incentive and incentive for Joe Biden to want to appoint someone who is pro-net neutrality To the chair of the FCC to replace a jeep eye because his entire legacy was undone by a jeep eye So he has an interest in securing his legacy and on top of that Look at Jessica Rosenwurzel as one of the options here So she's currently an FCC commissioner and all Joe Biden has to do is name her as a jeep eyes replacement Which is something that isn't out of the realm of possibility. She's certainly someone who he'd consider and She would actually do wonders now I will say this that Jessica Rosenwurzel who's a current FCC commissioner She wasn't always the biggest ally to net neutrality because let me remind you back in the Obama years He appointed a Comcast's lobbyist to be the FCC chair Tom Wheeler and he appointed Tom Wheeler after Tom Wheeler Donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to him or fund raised hundreds of thousands of dollars For Barack Obama so that appointment was the result of corruption And one of the first things that Tom Wheeler tried to do was dismantle net neutrality by introducing fast lanes which was a way of Allowing internet service providers to carve out these types of packages not necessarily Explicitly in the way that you know a jeep eyes rules would have allowed But just by saying hey if you pay us more we'll give you faster internet for this website When that's not okay that undermines net neutrality But what happened was Tom Wheeler ended up becoming one of the biggest allies to the net neutrality movement ever And he gave activists everything that they wanted because he succumbed to public pressure They were protesting in front of his house and the campaign that net neutrality activists mounted against him was highly successful So much so that not only did he declare the internet a public utility But he went even further than that and started to regulate zero rating which basically allows cell phone carriers like Verizon To undermine net neutrality in a roundabout way using zero rating because they can say hey Us at Verizon here We have this brand new streaming service and if you use our streaming service, this isn't going to count towards your data But if you use Netflix that will count towards your data. So I mean, this is anti-consumer. It's anti-competitive It allows these types of you know cell phone providers and internet service providers to basically rig the rules in their favor And give themselves the advantage that other competitors don't have so Tom Wheeler Started to you know hone his craft a little bit really zero in On these types of practices and Jessica Rosenwurzel was a part of the Obama administration She was part of that Tom Wheeler era where they were aggressively trying to make the internet more free and open So even if back in 2015 she kind of downplayed the importance of municipal broadband saying oh well You know, this is something that I don't want to you know get people's hopes of about but it seems kind of unlikely because it's Difficult to do the infrastructure and whatnot and building it would be a hassle Now things have changed She wasn't an ally but now she is and if Joe Biden only did one thing with regard to net neutrality and made Jessica Rosenwurzel the FCC chair and replaced a Jeepie He could fulfill all of the promises that he's saying now and then some because he's not actually the one that's doing it It's Jessica Rosenwurzel who we do actually trust to do what he's saying He wants to do and it would be great if Biden secured funds to encourage municipal broadband But I'm not necessarily optimistic about that I think that he has a lot of lobbyists in his ear that will kill that initiative But even if Biden doesn't follow through with that promise Jessica Rosenwurzel can choose to unilaterally promote municipal broadband She doesn't need Joe Biden's permission. She can act autonomously independent of what Joe Biden wants She can unilaterally take the FCC in any direction she wants now if Trump is reelected a Jeepie I will remain the FCC chair most likely unless he chooses to resign and whoever is elevated It's gonna be who Trump chooses it may be you know Michael Riley who's another anti net neutrality goon And maybe Brendan Carr was also another shill for the industry Jessica Rosenwurzel assuming Biden is actually elected She would likely be the next FCC chair and it would be a game-changer even if Biden Doesn't choose to do anything about net neutrality even if he says nothing else about net neutrality for the rest of his administration If he's elected Jessica Rosenwurzel can act independently. I mean Tom Wheeler He even though Obama's stance their administration's official stance was pro net neutrality He was trying to tear down net neutrality and he was doing this without Obama's explicit consent And it wasn't until you know activists started putting pressure on him and Obama kind of signaled support for net neutrality Tepidly that Tom Wheeler switched gears. So it doesn't really matter what Joe Biden wants to do Jessica Rosenwurzel would be steering the ship here. So in conclusion like all of this considered Joe Biden would be I think a really positive force for net neutrality Even if he chooses to abandon his promise now, you know with that being said there is the possibility that Joe Biden You know once he's in let's say he elevates Jessica Rosenwurzel and makes her FCC chairwoman And then you know a bunch of Comcast lobbyists who are already in his ear get in his head and say hey You don't you don't want to undo these net neutrality repeals. I mean come on, you know That's a possibility and he could try to like control what Jessica Rosenwurzel does or whoever else he appoints But at the same time is that something that I think he would focus a lot of effort on Not necessarily because as we've seen from Obama and Trump, they don't really focus on this issue a lot I mean the FCC chairperson has been the driver of net neutrality Regulatory standards. This is true for Tom Wheeler and it was true for a GPI He chose to single-handedly repeal net neutrality So I just don't think that the president is going to be really focused on this So I mean I give credit where it's due at least he's saying the right thing now And even if he doesn't do the right thing and follow through on this promise It's still a good sign for net neutrality. It's still really important to have him in power if we want to secure net neutrality So hey I'll hand it to him here. This is the exact right thing and for him to suggest that he would promote Local co-ops. I mean, I'll believe that when I see it But just the fact that he appoints someone who would be more open-minded to it than a GPI That's a good thing. That's a step in the right direction. So hey, I've been critical of Joe Biden I think he's a disgusting human being for not supporting Medicare for all But you get credit for this at least this is a very positive thing