A PUBLIC ROAD TO THE INTERNET SHOULD NOT END AT A PRIVATE TOLLBOOTH.

VAULT · 01 UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE 2028

Published by Langhorne P. Breedlove

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2026 · 1:42 AM ET

Tags: Broadband · Public Infrastructure · Internet Access · Affordability · Digital Inclusion

Dear fellow American proletariat: We have reached the stage of civilization where you can apply for a job, access a school assignment, schedule a medical visit, or complete a government form through the internet—and still be told that a reliable connection is a luxury. A paved road to the courthouse counts as infrastructure. Why should the digital road there be treated as an optional upgrade?

American Proletariat proposes universal, affordable, reliable public broadband access. This does not mean that Washington must own every router or abolish private providers. It means that every household should have an enforceable path to a usable connection, with public construction or service where the market leaves people behind, affordable plans, genuine consumer choice, and clear service standards. This is a proposed national guarantee—not current federal law.

ROOTS & HISTORY

The Communications Act of 1934 established the Federal Communications Commission, and the Telecommunications Act of 1996 reworked communications policy around competition, access and universal-service obligations. Policymakers have spent decades trying to extend modern networks beyond profitable markets. The instruments have changed—from telephone networks to cable, fiber, fixed wireless and satellites—but the geographic problem remains stubborn: building networks to scattered or difficult-to-reach places costs money even where few customers can repay it. (Source 01)

In March 2024 the FCC adopted a fixed-broadband benchmark of 100 megabits per second downstream and 20 upstream. Its deployment analysis, using availability data as of December 2022, estimated that about 24 million Americans lacked fixed terrestrial service at that benchmark; those historical figures are not a live count for November 2026. The agency also reported serious gaps in rural communities and on Tribal lands. The important lesson is that an advertised national footprint is not proof that everyone has a working line to the front door. (Source 02)

TODAY · THREE DIFFERENT DIVIDES

ONE · THE LINE DOES NOT REACH

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, created under the 2021 infrastructure law, allocates $42.45 billion through states and territories to extend high-speed connections. It is an existing program, not a new appropriation AP can count a second time. Awarding grants, approving plans, constructing networks, and activating household subscriptions are different milestones; each must be reported separately. (Source 03)

TWO · THE BILL IS TOO HIGH

The Affordable Connectivity Program offered qualifying households up to $30 a month toward broadband service, or $75 on qualifying Tribal lands. Congress did not replenish the appropriation, and the program ended June 1, 2024. Lifeline, a different program, continues to offer qualifying households a standard broadband benefit of up to $9.25 per month, with additional support in qualifying Tribal areas. An existing partial discount is not the same thing as universal affordability. (Sources 04, 05)

THREE · SUBSCRIPTION DOES NOT MEAN QUALITY

The Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey counted approximately 132.7 million U.S. households and 122.6 million with a broadband internet subscription according to its computer-and-internet table. That is a household subscription measure, not proof that every connection met 100/20 Mbps, offered low latency, or remained dependable through an outage. The source also distinguishes households without subscriptions from households without computers. (Source 06)

Network availability, a household subscription, actual delivered performance, usable devices, digital literacy, and accessibility all deserve separate measurement. A person attempting a video job interview on a weak connection has technically gone online. Whether they can complete the interview is another question.

THE MANDATE

A UNIVERSAL SERVICE STANDARD

AP proposes a legally defined baseline of reliable home broadband with independently measured upload and download performance, latency, availability, transparent pricing and prompt repairs. Use the FCC's 100/20 Mbps benchmark as a minimum planning reference, not a promise that speed tests will always match advertised maxima. Reassess the standard periodically as technology and public needs evolve; give remote areas flexible technology choices without quietly assigning them a permanently inferior standard.

PUBLIC BUILD, PUBLIC OPTION, PRIVATE COMPETITION

Where existing networks and competitive bids can meet the standard economically, purchase or support service through audited contracts. Where they cannot, permit municipal utilities, cooperatives, Tribal entities, regional public authorities and other accountable operators to build and run open-access infrastructure. Congress would need to address applicable federal authority, state restrictions, grant conditions and rights-of-way, rather than merely declare local barriers gone. Public financing should require nonexclusive access and prevent subsidized local monopolies from replacing unsubsidized ones.

AFFORDABILITY AS AN ACTUAL BILL

Set an income-tested affordability guarantee, including simple enrollment and protections against abrupt disconnection, surprise equipment rental charges and hidden introductory-rate increases. The design should coordinate with Lifeline instead of duplicating its benefits on paper. A household should see the complete monthly price, expected speeds, service limitations, data limits if any, and complaint route before subscribing. Eligible consumers should retain the freedom to choose an available provider.

DEVICES, ACCESSIBILITY & PUBLIC SPACES

Provide meaningful public connectivity in libraries, schools, community centers, government facilities and appropriate public areas, with multilingual support, accessible equipment and transparent data-use policies. Device assistance and practical digital training belong in the implementation budget, not in a paragraph about how wonderful the internet will be. Tribal governments must have sovereign authority in decisions affecting their communities and infrastructure.

HOW TO BUILD IT WITHOUT BUILDING A BOONDOGGLE

First map the gap at the address level, verify reported coverage through challenges and field tests, and inventory funded projects so public money does not pay twice for the same service area. Second solicit technology-neutral bids judged on long-run value, resilience, affordability and performance. Third build and activate networks with measurable deadlines and clawbacks for failures. Fourth open the resulting infrastructure to competing service providers where feasible and maintain local consumer-service options.

Contracts should publish awarded amounts, service locations, actual activations, construction status, independent tests, complaint resolution, expected maintenance and replacement reserves, and the public's ownership or access rights. Backup power, wildfire risk, flooding, winter storms and cyber incidents matter just as much as a glossy download-speed claim. An internet line that vanishes whenever the county needs emergency information is not adequate public infrastructure.

THE ONE-YEAR & TEN-YEAR LEDGER

Do not mistake a national aspiration for a Congressional Budget Office estimate. Here is one explicit affordability scenario, not an enrollment forecast: support 10 million eligible households at a net new federal subsidy of $30 per month. That costs $3.6 billion per year in direct assistance; at an illustrative administrative rate of 5 percent of assistance, $180 million more, or $3.78 billion annual total. If both quantities remained flat for ten years, the undiscounted cost would be $37.8 billion. These figures exclude infrastructure, devices, public-site access, program transition and changes in existing Lifeline benefits.

At five million households, the same $30 monthly benefit would equal $1.8 billion in direct annual assistance before administration. At fifteen million, it would equal $5.4 billion. These are sensitivity examples, not estimates of need. Universal buildout must be costed separately by unserved locations, technology, terrain, construction labor, rights-of-way, capital grants, operating subsidies, maintenance and asset replacement. Existing BEAD commitments must appear in the baseline and not be credited as new AP savings. Federal and state expenditures, private co-investment and consumer bills must be shown in different columns.

Before national legislation, publish annual ten-year projections for household participation, average net subsidy, infrastructure spending, equipment and training, staffing, eligibility systems, audit expenses, replacement reserves, expected receipts, and plausible offsets—each with low, central and high scenarios. Any claim that telehealth, distance education or economic growth will generate fiscal savings must be supported independently and must not erase the cost column by rhetorical flourish.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Government-owned networks can be poorly managed. Private operators can overcharge or underdeliver. Subsidy programs can become hard to navigate; grant awards can reward politically connected applicants; publicly financed systems can fail if nobody funds maintenance. Dense cities and remote mountain valleys do not present the same engineering challenge. Satellites and fixed wireless may be valuable in difficult terrain, but performance, weather resilience, data restrictions and recurring costs still need scrutiny.

Critics will ask whether targeted vouchers and competitive private grants work better than public ownership. Others will argue that local public ownership creates more accountability when providers face little competition. Both are testable claims. AP's proposal should evaluate cost per connected location, total household price, actual performance, adoption and long-run network reliability—rather than award ideological medals to whichever organization laid the cable.

Privacy matters, too. Neither a public network nor a subsidized private provider should gain an open-ended license to monitor browsing habits, sell household-level usage records or condition access on unrelated data collection. Separate lawful network security operations from surveillance; prohibit unnecessary collection; require independent safeguards, breach reporting and meaningful redress.

MEASURING SUCCESS

Report monthly household activations and installation backlogs; quarterly delivered speed, latency, outage time and complaint resolution; annually total public spending, average net household bills, public versus private ownership, provider choice, network accessibility, device access and the remaining unserved population. Publish counts by geography and relevant income or access categories with privacy protections. Audit federal grants against actual completed connections, not a photograph of somebody holding a ceremonial shovel.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Universal public broadband should mean a credible, practical right to connect—not a single government website declaring that America is connected. Build where necessary, subsidize affordability where justified, regulate honestly, measure the result, and keep private and community providers accountable under the same clear performance standard.

A twenty-first-century republic cannot make the internet the front door to ordinary life and then shrug when the key is missing.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

01 · Congressional Research Service — Broadband Internet Access and the Digital Divide: Federal Assistance Programs, updated November 14, 2025.

https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/2025-11-14_R46896_9a55d2a79664b1ea587bd8ae6437404a67c866d9.html

02 · Federal Communications Commission — 2024 Section 706 Broadband Deployment Report and accompanying announcement, March 14, 2024.

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-401205A1.pdf

03 · National Telecommunications and Information Administration — Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, program overview.

https://www.ntia.gov/funding-programs/internet-all/broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-bead-program

04 · Universal Service Administrative Company — Affordable Connectivity Program, closure and historical benefits.

https://www.usac.org/about/affordable-connectivity-program/

05 · Universal Service Administrative Company — About Lifeline, current benefit rules.

https://www.lifelinesupport.org/about-lifeline/

06 · U.S. Census Bureau — 2024 American Community Survey, Table B28003, Presence of a Computer and Type of Internet Subscription in Household.

https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2024.B28003

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WE ARE ONE.  ·  E PLURIBUS UNUM.