[traditional1]

high speed internet access to be a “basic human right.”

In the same 'hoods that this is targeted for, a Cadillac Escalade and 'tats are a "basic human right", also, so do we (THE TAXPAYER) expect that it should be funded by us, too?

If you don't work for a living, you are entitled to ZERO.

[AustinBill]

Forget the "human rights" nonsense. Looking over the long term technology infrastructure is one of the best things the Federal government can do and one of the few uses of the public purse which makes both economic and political sense.

Electrification, Universal Telephone service, and the Interstate Highway system transformed the country from an agrarian to a modern industrial state, and none of these would have been possible without government sponsorship. Universal broadband will do the same in propelling us forward into the 21st century information age. It's what the "Promote the General Welfare" clause of the Preamble to the Constitution is all about.

The tragedy is that for a fraction of the cost of all the useless "stimulus" packages enacted over the past decade, we could have created a universal fiber infrastructure delivering low-cost Gigabit connectivity to the entire country. The transformative effect of having such an infrastructure is impossible to overstate.