Supporting rural broadband has been a bipartisan goal in Minnesota. We saw this in the debates last fall. We’re seeing less of it this spring. The issue I think has much less to do with broadband than it does in how people feel about investing public money.

Some folks just want no taxes. They see them as an expense, not an investment. President Obama spoke eloquently about this on a panel at Georgetown University, using broadband as an example…

I think it is important for us at the outset to acknowledge if, in fact, we are going to find common ground, then we also have to acknowledge that there are certain investments we are willing to make as a society, as a whole, in public schools and public universities; in, today, I believe early childhood education; in making sure that economic opportunity is available in communities that are isolated, and that somebody can get a job, and that there’s actually a train that takes folks to where the jobs are — that broadband lines are in rural communities and not just in cities. And those things are not going to happen through market forces alone.

And if that’s the case, then our government and our budgets have to reflect our willingness to make those investments. If we don’t make those investments, then we could agree on the earned income tax credit — which I know Arthur believes in. We could agree on home visitation for low-income parents. All those things will make a difference, but the broader trends in our society will make it harder and harder for us to deal with both inequality and poverty.

And so I think it’s important for us to recognize there is a genuine debate here, and that is what portion of our collective wealth and budget are we willing to invest in those things that allow a poor kid, whether in a rural town, or in Appalachia, or in the inner city, to access what they need both in terms of mentors and social networks, as well as decent books and computers and so forth, in order for them to succeed along the terms that Arthur discussed.

And right now, they don’t have those things, and those things have been stripped away. You look at state budgets, you look at city budgets, and you look at federal budgets, and we don’t make those same common investments that we used to. And it’s had an impact. And we shouldn’t pretend that somehow we have been making those same investments. We haven’t been. And there’s been a very specific ideological push not to make those investments. That’s where the argument comes in.