I think one can realistically assume the FCC is not going away any time soon. Let not the perfect be the enemy of the good. If we can improve the FCC at this point, we should focus on the possible.

In an ideal world, maybe starting from scratch would be a good idea (and we should have a robust debate about what the iEPA should do, as part of the process). But we don’t live in an ideal world.

I respect Larry’s motives here, but I can’t see any realistic path to an iEPA in the remotely foreseeable future. Let’s fix what we can with the FCC while we are stuck with it.

Some ideas: (1) outlaw the revolving door in order to ameliorate the most egregious effects of industry ties, (2) look for ways to build planned obsolescence into all regulation moving forward (idea: require explicit statement of the causal factors driving regulation, and require explicit independent testing of such factors periodically), (3) shore up the public input procedures in the policy-making process, rather than undermining them, and mandate greater transparency in the policy formulation process thereafter.

And most immediately: pick a new Chair (and appoint whatever new commissioners need to be appointed) who put the public interest first in terms of priorities. (Keep Copps and Adelstein, they’ve been fighting the good fight for years now.)

@Serge,

>> When things are broken, you fix them.

Sometimes things are too broken to be fixed. Similar to an insurance claims agent evaluating a claim, there comes a point where you have to decide if the cost of fixing something is greater than cost of replacing it.

The cost to fix the FCC /far/ exceeds the cost of replacing it. The FCC is totaled. It’s time to cut our losses and start over.