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Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
The great missing debate in contemporary politics is about the role and reach of markets. Do we want a market economy, or a market society? What role should markets play in public life and personal relations? How can we decide which goods should be bought and sold, and which should be governed by nonmarket values? Where should money’s writ not run?From our narrow broadband perspective, infrastructure should be governed by nonmarket values. Though it may cost more to build networks in rural America than in the metro, everyone should be connected with fast, affordable, and reliable networks that are responsive to their needs. The interesting result is that markets actually work much better than when many are denied participation by lack of modern infrastructure. In a review of Sandel's work, Michael Ignatieff argues that Sandel misses some of the key issues that have deliberately led us to this place.
We did not drift into this new world of money or arrive here by accident. Powerful interests have carried us here, and it is up to the people acting together to take their republic back. A society is not a market. It is a political community. Restoring the virtue of its citizens demands a politics equal to the challenge of virtue’s enemies.In short, we need to take the task of governing ourselves more seriously. We cannot allow moneyed interests to continue corrupting our legislatures. Community Broadband Networks is a project of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which offers a variety of solutions for communities that want to be independent and take the idea of self-determination very seriously.