Odd bedfellows? Tea party activists back telecoms' net neutrality opposition

Anti-government beliefs have led tea party members and other conservative activists to side with telecom providers opposing the FCC's net neutrality policy even though, to some, this means they're opposing something that would actually help their organizations' members.

Conservative activists, including tea party members and those who belong to Americans for Prosperity, have written to the FCC asking that it abandon net neutrality, which they described in a letter as "a massive regulatory regime that would stifle broadband expansion, create congestion slow Internet speeds, jeopardize job retention and growth and lead to higher prices for consumers." Their Internet stance is the same as any other government initiative: The feds should back off.

Of course, that is a polar opposite of the position taken by such groups as Free Press, which continues to support net neutrality as a way to move broadband speeds to every American household. Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, told the Memphis Commercial Appeal that telecom industry-funded groups "are duping the tea party movement into actively working against their very own interests."

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