As Congressman Edward Markey said in a debate on the fairness doctrine, “It does not seem to me to be an outrageous idea that broadcasters – who are granted, at no cost, the exclusive use of a scarce public resource, the electromagnetic spectrum – be required to inform the public in a responsible manner.” Indeed, to the extent that broadcasters or other users are given a government-protected monopoly over a particular range of spectrum, it does seem fair that they have to pay for the privilege. This rationale would disappear, however, insofar as an area of the spectrum is governed as a commons. Just as the users of the atmosphere (that is, everyone who breathes) do not need to pay the government for the privilege, neither should those spectrum users who participate in commons governance.