Author Archives: State of Opportunity

A Race to the Bottom

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Huffington Post – Why FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is CLBR’s Zero of the Year

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Ars Technica – FCC faces backlash for saying Americans might not need fast home Internet

Singled Out

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This will not be a critique of the current FCC attempts to repeal net neutrality regulations. That is another kettle of fish and I will write about it separately. The issue I want to address here is the rollback of broadband internet standards, which should by no means be lowered. When students fall behind at school, do we lower standards and allow them to pass without the skills and knowledge they were supposed to acquire? That’s a recipe for failure on a broad systemic level. Advertised speeds of 25Mbps downstream and 3Mbps upstream, which often practically measure far slower than claimed, are often not rapid enough for modern necessities. Lowering it beyond that signifies the FCC’s complete and total disconnect with the needs of Americans.

When I speak of necessities, I don’t mean applications like Netflix. I am sure that I am not the only one who enjoys having heaps of movies and original TV series to binge on, but I consider that to be a luxury. However, Netflix and similar services will suffer greatly from the rollback of broadband standards.

Necessities are, in my opinion, things that allow, or are required for, interaction with government, employers, educational institutions, family, etc. For example, I used to connect remotely to my office’s VPN at my old job and my wife does so at her current job. This is a very common practice these days and enables businesses and employees to be more flexible and productive, even when halfway across the world. With the new standards Ajit Pai’s FCC wants to establish, the latency would render it very difficult to effectively complete tasks remotely. This high demand is very similar to the manners in which students now interact with their places of education. Many Americans living in rural areas cannot physically attend college or university, but are enrolled in very innovative distance education programs. These programs often utilize streaming video, video conferencing, and large data uploads/downloads, which are exceptionally useful tools to engage students, but are very demanding in terms of bandwidth. Without an appropriate level of internet access across the country, we are choosing as a society to deprive certain people of opportunities that exist and could transform their lives. These are just two small examples out of thousands of practical bottlenecks that will occur if we lower standards as a kickback to bloated telecommunications monopolies, which are dragging their feet in order to delay infrastructure build-out and to milk old infrastructure for as many pennies as they can. Monopolies are the polar opposite of competition in the marketplace and the result of their amalgamation of capital and power is stagnation in the market.

We need to stop worrying about profit margins and value for shareholders. The true concern is whether or not we are falling behind the rest of the world in terms of both technology and investment in the future. We also need to be concerned with the capability, or lack thereof, of our internet infrastructure to support increasing subscribership as well as increasing demand for high bandwidth and low latency. DSL and 3G are not reasonable broadband options for folks living in rural America. Broadband internet has become indispensible in the modern world. It is difficult to interface with various levels of government and private industry without high speed internet. A business without an internet presence and sweeping online access is more likely to fail than a competitor that has these services. Setting the standard at “10/3” is like setting the standard for drinkable water as “lead adds flavor,” and the standard for breathable air as “smog is underrated.”

I have written to the FCC at every step of their review process. It’s easy and I think it’s the least I can do. If I could distill my commentary down to one demand for Ajit Pai, it would be: please stop catering to business interests and do your actual job, which is to advocate zealously on behalf of all American citizens. A rising tide lifts all boats.

– SoO

Dictators or Kings?

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Reuters – North Korea Revealed: The thinking behind Kim Jong Un’s “madness”

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PERSPECTIVE OF POWER: The administrative and military elites, pictured here at a Pyongyang parade, vie for influence. Kim Jong Il intensified the rivalry between them to protect his son. REUTERS/Damir Sagoljaption

I figured the best way to start off a controversial journey was with a controversial topic! What better than North Korea, as Kim Jong Un tees up yet another MRBM/IRBM?

We, in the west, righteously label people like the Kims dictators. I believe there is a more fitting title: Kings. Machiavelli called them new Princes and old Princes; he delved deeply into the unique challenges posed to each as they came to power. Today, our day-to-day discourse fails to make these connections. Yet, Kings they are and, invasions notwithstanding, Kings they will remain.

Looking crazy is a carefully calculated strategy for someone in KJU’s position. There was no ongoing transition of power from his Kim Jong Il to Kim Jong Un, as there had been from Kim Il Sung to Kim Jong Il (a 10 year transition, in fact). Educated secretly in Switzerland, KJU returned home to a heaping pile of responsibility and danger. His dad died quickly, his people did not know him, and his cabinet and family were all greedily eyeing his position. Had he been a gentle ruler, he’d already be dead and one of his relatives, generals, or an western imperial puppet would be in charge. I am in no way excusing what he’s done to his people. I am simply saying that his actions make perfect sense every step of the way. He was a weak ruler attempting to consolidate power among a den of snakes. To accomplish this, he acted strong. He brutally and publicly killed those who conspired against him. He won the favor of his people through propaganda and by show of strength.

Much like the old adage about new inmates in prison attempting to make themselves safe by picking a fight with the biggest, toughest, meanest guy in the yard, Kim has endlessly rattled his saber at the American empire. The show is just as much for his own people as it is for us.

He appears rabid and senseless to us because we are using the wrong metrics to evaluate his actions. He is intelligent and ruthless, he covets his birthright, and he fears death. All of this is clear. The future between our two nations rests on our ability to see him for what he is rather than what we have been told he is.

– SoO

A New Beginning

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The State of Opportunity is dedicated to analysis of, and open conversation about, politics and current events. It’s all about this crazy world in which we find ourselves and charting a path forward to allow all people within society to advance said society to a higher level. It’s about freedom, democracy, and opportunity for all. I welcome those of all stripes, who are willing to speak with each other respectfully, no matter how you label yourself politically. Conservatives, liberals, progressives, authoritarians, libertarians, nationalists, globalists, capitalists, socialists, and all others are welcome. This is my microcosm of the marketplace of ideas. This is where I want to discuss, among many other things, the opportunity state.

I myself am a social democrat with libertarian tendencies. I see government and the market as unique tools to craft a well-functioning and forward-looking country. I fundamentally believe in representative government and the ability of every citizen to have an equal voice before their elected officials. I believe in a strong and vibrant market geared towards innovation, competition, and renewal through small business and startups as opposed to stagnation through amalgamation and monopoly. I believe in giving everyone born in this great country as much of an equal shot at the American Dream as possible. The rich will always have an edge (this is without debate), but even if you are born homeless under a bridge, you should be guaranteed a solid chance to grow up healthy and recognize your aspirations, as long as you are willing to put in the hard work to get there. Provision of resources to climb the ladder of opportunity is key to any stable society that wants to last more than a few generations. We need to stop being talked into burning those ladders down.

In my opinion, this is achieved through the visionary construction of a libertarian-minded social democracy in the United States. This simply means taking the lessons of past ideologies and carefully assessing them to determine which portions should be adopted and which should be left behind in the rubbish heap of history. This means implementing effective socialist policy within a strong capitalist market framework: a combination of the best of both, without the worst of either. This all resides under the umbrella of a strong and legitimate democracy: a representative Republic in which constituents are represented rather than donors.

A true left-wing approach, which maintains personal liberty, has been suppressed by the Republican and Democratic parties alike. A true left-wing approach has been suppressed by corporate media of all forms.

Ludicrous times: today, even policy in line with Reagan’ philosophy is deemed “socialist.”

Clumsy and authoritarian left-wing policy of old, coupled with predatory and authoritarian right-wing policy of modern times, has poisoned many great ideas in the minds of too many folks. I am going to try and shine a little a little light on what is possible if we simply see the world with a little more nuance.

This page, and associated websites and social media accounts, will be used to accomplish a variety of things. I will be posting articles and commentary about current events and the political world that I find to be interesting and informative. I want to offer my two cents, to whomever is interested, on these articles and ongoing events. I also want to research and write well-cited pieces on current and past events, as well as complex political philosophies throughout history, when I have the time. I would love to hear what my readers think, as I know that I do not have all the answers. Our discourse is what will advance our society, not our silence. Adaptation is humanity’s greatest skill and the shepherds of our world have no right to deprive others of the ability to adapt. We’re all in this together, folks, and we will swim or sink together.

– SoO