Policy is Personal: Universal Broadband
Broadband is not a luxury, it’s a utility. But in too many communities across North Carolina, including my own, access to broadband is still not a reality.
While I was in graduate school, my fathers' dementia got bad so I moved home to help out with the farm and take care of him. I ended up having to drop out of school because the dial-up connection wasn’t strong enough to hold my classes. That was my reality. That’s the day-to-day reality for millions of people across this country. Broadband too slow to upload assignments. No one should have to choose between living in the home they love and having the broadband they need to connect them to the world.
Across North Carolina and even across the country, we are facing a broadband crisis. As the COVID pandemic forced folks to work from home and forced our children to learn remotely, it became more clear than ever that while broadband has become a necessity for all of us, in too many communities, communities like mine, the government is still treating it like a utility. Broadband should be treated no differently than drinking water. It is a UTILITY. Along with healthcare, clean air, food, and housing.
Nearly 400,000 North Carolina’s don’t even have access to high-speed broadband. Over 800,000 North Carolinians only have one option for a provider — leaving them nowhere to go if they’re not satisfied with the service they have. only 47% of the state has “access” to what is defined as an affordable plan — ($60 or less per month).
You deserve more.
Most recently, we’ve seen how broadband outages and limitations have made it even harder for students to keep up with virtual learning. Universal Broadband would put an end to this iniquity and ensure equal access for all. I will fight to ensure that every single North Carolinian, regardless of where they live, has access to high-quality and affordable broadband. We cannot allow broadband access to further the existing inequities that exist between rural and urban communities, wealthy and working-class communities, Black and white communities. True universal broadband has the potential to bring us together, not further apart.
The status quo is failing us. Our representatives are failing us. Most of the people making these decisions in Raliegh and in DC can’t imagine what it’s like to not have speedy broadband available whenever you need it and because of that disconnect, they’re failing to deliver.
Rural America deserves a seat at the table. Working families deserve a seat at the table. Those of us who are actually enduring the struggle that most politicians only talk about, deserve a seat at the table. Because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.
We need a government that works for all of us, not just the wealthy and the well-connected. If it was millionaires losing their jobs, billionaires children falling behind in classes, all because of sub-bar broadband, the government would’ve taken care of it in a hurry.
We matter too. My story, my having to drop out of classes, that matters too. Your stories matter too.
Broadband is healthcare. Broadband is economic opportunity. Broadband is education. Broadband is a right.
In the short term, I support efforts like Senator Klobuchar and Congressman Clyburn’s Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act that would invest nearly one hundred billion dollars in securing universal broadband access. On a state level, I’m in support of proposals like the one currently being championed by Jennifer Carroll Foy in the VA governor’s race which would similarly increase spending to bring universal broadband within reach.
Long term, we need to take a serious look at why we’re shelling out billions of dollars to for-profit companies to provide us with basic necessities. I believe in a Government that provides its people with the resources, with the utilities, with the fundamental human rights that they need and deserve. Your healthcare should not be in the hands of a for-profit company. Your clean air and clean water should not be polluted by Big Oil or coal barons. Your access to broadband should not be blocked by broadband monopolies that care little about the services they provide you, and more about the bottom line they provide for their shareholders. There’s a strong argument to be made that the government should be directly providing broadband, similar to the argument in favor of Medicare for All.
This is a matter of political will. It’s a matter of us deciding that Government should work for all of us the way it already works for the wealthy and the well-connected. I believe in a country where your zip code does not define how far you will go, where your rights are secured, and where no one is left behind. Where my story, growing up on the family farm facing bankruptcy in a house that didn’t have air conditioning, dropping out of classes because of insufficient broadband, getting paid less than my white male colleagues, facing bankruptcy because my insurance didn’t cover the life-saving equipment my medically fragile son needed, is not shared by millions.
Together, our moral movement is writing a new story for folks across North Carolina and across this country.
Policy is personal. It’s personal to me and it’s also personal to people across North Carolina who’re struggling to get by and need us to fight for solutions big enough and bold enough to address the challenges they’re facing. That’s why I’m running for U.S. Senate and that’s why we’re doing this virtual town hall series in which we’re sharing why the policies I support are personal to me and inviting you to come and share your stories and to ask any questions you may have about mine. This is not a campaign centered around me, it’s a movement centered around all of us. I appreciate all of you sharing and engaging with me, being a part of our movement, and helping create a Government that truly works for all of us.
