Everyone spends a lot of time and ink criticizing all that Washington policymakers get wrong, including many of us who work here in Washington. Yet lawmakers often get things right, too, demonstrating a humility for which they are rarely credited. One of the best modern examples of this may be the 1996 Telecom Act.

In 1996, wireless technology and the Internet were beginning to make their mark. Congress, realizing that America stood on the cusp of unparalleled advances, flipped the ordinary presumption of government regulation.