> When you say "citizens of the US" you're talking about a continent that would take roughly five days to cross at highway speed, driving ten hours a day. You may as well say "citizens of Europe."
I don't know if the comparison should be valid. Over the past 100 years the US has done incredible things. From developing the first transistor to applied atomic power to the first man on the moon, and more relevantly to your point, it expanded the German Autobahn model and took it to a continental scale.
If America wanted to do it, it eventually could be done - and many people around the world still believe this idea to be true.
Edit: What I think is interesting to add is that defense and national pride or prestige were indeed significant factors in these developments through the decades.
If by America you mean the citizens, yes we want to do it and have made it quite clear we've wanted it for quite a while.
First problem is the cost of the infrastructure for such a huge space. We did offer to subsidize it to a point and the companies took the money without delivering. As usual, no repercussions.
Second problem is very few politicians, in office or wishing to run, will listen to the citizens and prefer taking money from corporations to maintain the status quo.
> Did you hear anyone talk about broadband during this year's presidential election?
While it's hard to hear much about policy plans over the personal, historical, and character attacks this cycle, yes, I've heard Clinton promoting her "broadband for all" plan, as well as seen some criticism of and debate about it in the press, etc.
Clinton's proposal is the usual appeal to rural voters by talking about the "broadband gap." That has little to do with fiber, which is presumably what 'talmund was talking about.
While true, it's not the entire explanation. Apathy is far more of a factor here than corruption; average citizens don't care enough about their Internet access choices to lobby their politicians about it. The incumbent providers do a pretty good job of offering just enough service to keep average people satisfied at a price that is not quite high enough to make customers really angry.
“The United States can always be relied upon to do the right thing — having first exhausted all possible alternatives.” -- misattributed to Winston Churchill
I don't know if the comparison should be valid. Over the past 100 years the US has done incredible things. From developing the first transistor to applied atomic power to the first man on the moon, and more relevantly to your point, it expanded the German Autobahn model and took it to a continental scale.
If America wanted to do it, it eventually could be done - and many people around the world still believe this idea to be true.
Edit: What I think is interesting to add is that defense and national pride or prestige were indeed significant factors in these developments through the decades.