File this among our self-evident truths: An equal and open internet is the backbone of our digital economy.

It is the principle that all web traffic must be treated equally by Internet Service Providers such as Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon - forbidding them to block, throttle, prioritize, or charge more for any content that arrives on your laptop.

This precept, known as net neutrality, means there are no toll booths on the information highway. Even the federal courts affirmed that these telecom giants must maintain a level playing field for all content.

Donald Trump thinks differently, however, so in keeping with his practice of government by vandalism, he has instructed the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, to give internet providers the authority to be their own gatekeepers.

This is upsetting for everybody but the ISPs, judging by the 22 million protests currently posted on the FCC website. But those protesters should save some wrath for Congress, which has power to enshrine net neutrality into law before Pai takes a meat axe to it on Dec. 14.

If Pai has his way, ISPs will be reclassified as information services instead of highly-regulated utilities, such as telephone or electric.

In practice, they'll charge higher fees for faster delivery of content from websites such as Netflix - because video requires more bandwidth - and that cost will be passed along to the customer. Or ISPs can choose winners and losers on a whim: Verizon, for example, would favor Yahoo (which it owns) over Google, and subject Google to a toll hike to drive in the fast lane.

And ISPs can manipulate the choices you make online by sabotaging the little guy - startups that cannot afford to compete in the fast lane like Amazon or Facebook - and now they can shove content you get for free into the slow lane.

Meanwhile, the FCC will relinquish its authority over the ISPs, and the Federal Trade Commission would keep an eye on the fine print of service contracts, just to ensure ISPs are being "transparent." How important is FTC oversight to Trump? His nominee for chairman hasn't even been approved by the Senate yet.

Pai says this needs to be done to inspire innovation, and because government must stop "micromanaging" the internet. Somehow, replacing net neutrality with ham-handed control by a few multinational corporations doesn't support his premise. But then, he's a former general counsel for Verizon - an ISP that made $32 billion in revenue in the last quarter.

The telecoms are media monopolies. They control giant swaths of real estate - two-thirds of the country has access to just one high-speed internet provider - and since the internet is crucial to our lives, we tolerate their phlegmatic service. They have no motivation to improve: Download speed in the U.S. is half of what it is in Singapore, and we rank 46th in mobile internet speed, even though our mobile costs are sixth highest in the world.

Unless something changes, this consumer rip-off has the blessing of a benign Congress. An equal and open internet, favored by 76 percent of Americans, is destined for political martyrdom.

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