When you achieve major goals in life, it’s very difficult not to send intensely petty emails to all those who told you that you could never do something, who vehemently pronounced that it just wasn’t possible for someone like you. They’d be along the lines of sending a scan of my offer letter with, “You said I couldn’t, and look what I done did!”

I won’t do such a thing. There’s no reason for it. But it is tempting.

I really should be thanking them, though. Nothing is more motivating to me than someone telling me I can’t do something that I want to do and know that I can do. That’s like the best fuel there is. So, thanks.

Something liberals particularly tend not to understand is that regulations, especially as we do them, tend to strengthen the competitive position and market power of large, existing players. Conversely, regs also tend to eviscerate smaller companies who are not well-funded.

So when you support greater regulation, essentially you are enshrining the existing players for nearly all time.

This is not always the case, don’t get me wrong. Net Neutrality benefits smaller players more than it benefits large corporations.

However, even regs as salutary as the Clean Air Act mostly benefit those who are already ascendant. It’s always a balance between what will promote true competition and what benefits the public. In this case, regulating Google and Facebook might be worth the cost. Make no mistake, though: by regulating them with any of the proposals I’ve seen circulated will enshrine them nearly forever in their current state.