There is also a third player on the web which is non-businesses. Now, you may argue that there is no place for non commercial entities, and this may very well be a valid argument, but there is also an argument for the web being a place where data can flow without discrimination regardless of the capital behind it.
You wouldn't just have to take away all the laws that created the monopolies, but also all the money those monopolies earned. Right now, they have accrued fiscal resource to the point where they no longer need legislative resource; they can simply buy their competitors (or the things their competitors need to get started) rather than relying on any governmental body to stop them.
reedlaw - I think you're too caught up with ideology. I'm now more libertarian than I've ever been, but I temper that wonderful ideology with real world considerations. Historical events in the U.S. have caused such imbalances that simply making "a level playing field" now, in many situations, would never self-regulate everything back into balance solely from free market principles. Even Ron Paul who is against pork barrel projects ideologically "brings home the bacon" with pork projects for his district because that is part of the reality of how government currently works. He would take heat for staunchly passing on it all. The best he has been able to do is purposely draft pork into legislation he knows will pass, then vote "No" on it himself for symbolism only. If we admit to ourselves that the world we live in is not perfect (and unlikely to change soon) then we ask ourselves should legislation be sensitive to that or guided only by ideology?
reedlaw - I just read a recent quote which illustrates my point nicely:
>The "biggest driver" for the more intense opposition to his administration's proposals, Obama told the network's "This Week" program, is more likely to be from people who are "passionate about the idea of whether government can do anything right."
The president similarly told NBC's Meet the Press program that it is an argument "that's gone on for the history of this republic – and that is what's the right role of government? How do we balance freedom with our need to look after one another?"
