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The conservative small government movement has gained momentum based on the principle that decisions are best made at a local level, because people know what they want better than the federal government does. So why is a contingent of small government-minded congressional representatives trying to dick over local governments when it comes to high-speed internet access?
I live in Chattanooga. I have their gigabit internet. It is great, but it could be better officially let us run servers, officially let us run open wifi ala openwireless.org (I do it anyway, but if they come knocking I'll have to turn it off), even better would be if they let other ISPs run on top of their fiber plant and compete with each other. Still, it is at least as good as google fiber for the same price or less (except for no $300 flat-fee low-bandwidth option).
[Editor's Note] For the non-Americans in our readership, this appears to be nothing more than the usual Rep/Dem disagreement depending on which 'big business' funded the most to the appropriate campaign coffers. I would have to agree that the pricing seems expensive but, as we know, that is caused more by the regional monopolies than the actual cost of provision.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 24 2014, @01:27PM
Someone made it a partisan issue... In my state before the R took over from D (after unwinding their years of gerrymandering) the D was the ones killing it. Once the R came into style they were the ones killing it. In one case it was the *same* bill presented by a D that some R took and represented as their own. One of the telco companies wrote it. In both cases the telco company would sit in the office and field answers about it.
It is about money. Plain and simple. You can buy a state rep bill put in front of the house for as little as a 2 night posh hotel room and a nice dinner. That is what it cost here. If you want a congress critter that cost more but not out of reach for these people. For a senator it will cost more. You just need to step up your 'campaign contributions'. That is what PAC funds are about. A way to funnel money to our 'representatives'.
This movie is a nice way to explain it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104114 [imdb.com]
It is about money. Plain and simple.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by GlennC on Thursday July 24 2014, @03:03PM
To buy a Congresscritter, you'll need to add a suitable "adviser" to provide "services".
Sorry folks...the world is bigger and more varied than you want it to be. Deal with it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 25 2014, @03:21AM
I wish that worked in reverse. A very big law was passed in the recent past which was written and made into state law by an R, but once the Ds pushed it, the Rs have done nothing except try to get it repealed, trying and failing more than 50 times to date.