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Many feel a free market unfettered by government regulation is the cure for all our social and economic ills. I have two words I’d ask you to consider: rural broadband. Consumers picking winners? How about when we don’t get a pick at all?

Here in Lewis County the existing for-profit corporate internet service providers have long since decided they can’t make a profit here. Thus, they do not invest in providing us service. Thus, our rural residents continue to lack adequate internet service and fall further and further behind in economic development opportunities, education, telemedicine and anything else that is dependent on a solid internet connection. This is the result of a free market approach to providing this vital service to people.

I’d really be interested to hear – what is the free market solution to providing every American with internet service, since the free market has said, “Yeah, nope, we’re not going to waste any time or money on helping with that because there’s no profit in it”? I think everyone agrees that internet service is vital to the ability of businesses and individuals to thrive and prosper. How is a free-market approach is going to give us anything different from the woefully inadequate status quo?