It’s a tangled Web, but Congress and consumers should be pressing for net neutrality

If you are a baby boomer, worrying about “net neutrality” is probably not topping your list of things to stew about upon waking.

Millennials also might not be fretting about “net neutrality,” but that is because they most likely accept the internet as a constant. Flip a switch and the lights come on; turn a faucet and you get fresh water; and everywhere you go, there is a Wi-Fi signal and what’s that password again?

Net neutrality is big, but in Washington, the Republicans are on the verge of taking it away.

This means that companies like Comcast and Verizon that deal out internet service will be able move it at different speeds, slowing down stuff that doesn’t pay enough, speeding up stuff that is getting top dollar.

Net neutrality means everything goes the same speed; no playing around with how fast you can watch Netflix.

President Donald Trump helped push out net neutrality by naming Ajit Pai, a Republican FCC commissioner as FCC chairman. He tossed out the neutrality rules set up by President Barack Obama.

Some public opinion polls are showing as much as 80 percent disapproval for Trump and Pai’s idea, so Democrats are quickly seizing net neutrality as a good-for-consumers-and-voters political issue.

States have jumped into the mix, even though the states really can’t run the FCC.

In March, Washington state became the first state to make it illegal to block, slow down or throttle websites.

Tough-talking Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said it was “a clear case of the Trump administration favoring powerful corporate interests over the interests of millions of Washingtonians and Americans.”

Gov. David Ige, perhaps not as pointedly as mainland counterparts, put Hawaii into the mix by ordering state departments to “contract for internet-related services only with providers who contractually agree to abide by net neutrality principles.”

Hawaii was also part of a coalition of 23 state attorneys general who sued, claiming the FCC changes were a violation of federal law.

The big news, however, comes from Washington, D.C., where the Democrats actually won one in Congress.

New laws passing in the U.S. Senate need a 60-vote majority, but for amending an existing rule, such as the FCC scrapping net neutrality, they just need more votes.

Hawaii’s two senators helped to get the majority.

“This is a big deal. It’s one of the last opportunities we will have to save the internet as we know it,” said U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz.

Warning that the FCC was moving to act in early June, Schatz said, “If we don’t vote … to preserve net neutrality, Internet Service Providers will control what you can access on the internet and how much you have to pay for it in only a few weeks.”

Hawaii’s other U.S. senator, Mazie Hirono, brought in the local angle, saying, “During the flooding on Kauai and Oahu — and the ongoing volcanic activity on Hawaii Island — local news providers have been a critical lifeline for local residents. … And these news outlets depend on a free and open internet to deliver their content to consumers when and where they need it.”

With several Republicans voting with the Democrats, the bill passed 52-47 and now moves to the House, where Democrats are not expecting an easy victory.

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who is running against Ige in the August Democratic primary, called the Senate vote a “victory for consumers,” adding, “I am a co-sponsor of the same legislation in the House and look forward to supporting it.”

Voters may never be thinking “Where were you in the big Net Neutrality wars?” — but if politicians get it wrong, they will be remembered in November.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.