Matt Stoller has done tremendous work on net neutrality and educated many about its importance. He’s continuing that work at Open Left this week with a visit by Dick Durbin, who is using reader input to try and craft a national broadband strategy.

It’s an interesting experiment because it cuts the lobbyists out of the mix and takes the debate straight to the public. I know the subject may at times seem dry as sawdust but really, it’s important. Without the ability of alternative voices to get wide exposure via the internet, the flow of information will become controlled by a few gatekeepers who have proved nothing more than they are unreliable transmitters, beholden to special interests and largely disinterested in developing the informed public upon which a healthy democracy depends.

When we covered the Scooter Libby trial earlier this year we used a variety of media in order to get our message out, both print and video. As I wrote recently in the Wall Street Journal, I believe the efforts of the blogosphere to push back against distorted “poor Scooter” beltway narratives had an effect. And if it wasn’t for Arianna Huffington, Marcy Wheeler and other bloggers, there is no doubt in my mind Judy Miller would still be working at the New York Times, one of the privileged few shoveling propaganda onto the heads of an angry and mistrustful public. Is that really the world we want to live in?

I hope you’ll stop by Open Left and leave some comments for Senator Durbin. He’ll be stopping by at 7pm ET (4pm FDL) to read and answer them, so please take a ride on the toobz and make some noise. Don’t let the Mike McCurrys of the world be the only ones whose voices get heard.