When Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, called for a re-evaluation of the “Open Internet Order” – more commonly known as Net Neutrality – activists and entertainers launched promised nothing short of Armageddon.

According to the doomsayers, without these rules in place, start-ups and those without immense wealth would be shut out; information could be shutdown on a whim; you would even have to pay $2 per Google search. Essentially, the Internet would become a black hole of pay-to-play oppression and censorship. Without net neutrality the Internet as we know it should have ceased to exist when the Net Neutrality rules were repealed on June 11th of this week.

And yet here you are, reading this, using the Internet, without any of those catastrophic prophecies coming true.

The reason why they didn’t is simple – the Internet existed freely and openly before the rules went into effect in 2015, and it will continue to exist freely and openly now that those rules have been repealed.

In fact, the repeal of these rules will actually help the Internet.

Up until the regulations went into effect in 2015, the Internet was categorized as an ‘information service.’ Investment and innovation helped shape and spur the Internet forward, ushering in the information age and creating the boom that caused the Internet to be dubbed the information superhighway.

But according to USTelecom, that investment decreased by billions once the new rules went into effect in 2015. This was the first-ever decline in broadband investment outside of a recession.

Even some smaller and municipal Internet service providers – those the Net Neutrality rules purportedly protect – said they had delayed rolling out new features or services because they were concerned about the possibility of dealing with a complaint or enforcement from the FCC.

These rules instead of fostering innovation, spurred more consolidation and strangled investment in new ideas.

This is why I and many of my colleagues fought to have these regulations rolled back and why I voted to see them repealed a few weeks ago.

While there are reforms to be made, the framework used to rationalize Net Neutrality was designed for telegraphs and railroads and rotary telephones and is out of step with today’s technological advances. Americans should be able to enjoy a free and open Internet, and the best way to ensure that is to allow the free market to foster innovation and to enforce existing anti-trust and consumer protection laws. Now that Net Neutrality rules have been repealed, we can continue to let the free market and existing law work to make the Internet great again.

While there are reforms to be made, the framework used to rationalize Net Neutrality was designed for telegraphs and railroads and rotary telephones and is out of step with today’s technological advances. American’s should be able to enjoy a free and open Internet, and the best way to ensure that is to allow the free market to foster innovation and to enforce existing anti-trust and consumer protection laws. Now that Net Neutrality rules have been repealed, we can continue to let the free market and existing law work to make the Internet great again.