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Tuesday, March 19
The Indiana Daily Student

opinion

COLUMN: Democrats should stop hailing hell for Uber

Donations for Taxi unions shouldn't bar innovation.

These days, Uber Technologies, the multibillion-dollar company behind the ride-hailing app disrupting the entire taxi industry, finds itself fighting multiple battles on several fronts.

In June, taxi drivers in Mexico City hunted down Uber-marked cars, physically attacking drivers and smashing their vehicles. The reason: The city’s tax unions were enraged the app and its drivers were operating 
in the city.

In Paris, Uber executives were arrested because of alleged violations against a French law meant to 
essentially ban Uber, though the law was only passed after a court declined to ban the 
service outright.

Here in the United States, Uber engaged in its potentially most serious battle when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio sought to stop the expansion of the service in the city — and lost.

The battle was justified — according to the liberal mayor — as a response to the increase in traffic congestion and pollution in NYC, which his administration blames on the higher number of Uber vehicles on the road.

But that argument fell flat and rightfully so. The fight was fundamentally about what happens when Democrats like de Blasio find themselves clinging to the past instead of looking 
to the future.

Taxi unions — one of the mayor’s biggest donors — have lashed out at Uber because of what they call unfair competition — and what we would call competition.

What’s really unfair, however, is the way the taxi industry in New York operated before companies like Uber radically challenged 
their system.

In short, taxi companies functioned like cartels — drivers could only operate in a city if they could afford a taxi medallion (which have previously fetched up to $1 million in auctions).

Taxi regulations in cities have reinforced this system, and taxi unions are fighting to keep that system in place. That means little-to-no real competition, which can translate into service as poor and expensive as cab companies want to provide.

It’s a shame some Democrats are positioning themselves to fight against innovation, especially when the industry seriously lacked any and consumers were the ones paying the price.

Democrats have long championed choice and, more importantly, progress; that’s why it’s so out of character for some to find themselves on the wrong side of this debate.

Meanwhile, Republicans have tripped over themselves to embrace Uber and paint Democrats as trying to strangle innovation through regulation while also desperately trying to associate themselves with something well-liked by tech-savvy youths.

To be sure, there are some legitimate issues worth 
debating that have arisen with Uber, such as what it means to be an employee vs. a contractor, driver and rider safety, protection of consumer data and so on.

Mayor de Blasio’s game plan — as he found out from the ensuing backlash that forced him to change course — is not the right way to have such a debate.

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