UM Classic Sophomore Lab

Broadband Aff

Broadband Aff
Broadband Aff............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................1 Broadband 1AC - 1......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................2 Broadband 1AC - 2......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3 Broadband 1AC - 3......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................4 Broadband 1AC - 4......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................5 Broadband 1AC - 5......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................6 Broadband 1AC - 6......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................7 Broadband 1AC - 7......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................8 Broadband 1AC - 8......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................9 Broadband 1AC - 9....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................10 Broadband 1AC - 10..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................11 Broadband 1AC - 11..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................12 Broadband 1AC - 12..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................13 Broadband 1AC - 13..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................14 Broadband 1AC - 14..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................15 Broadband 1AC - 15..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................16 ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................16 Broadband 1AC 16 ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................17 Broadband 1AC - 17..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................18 Broadband 1AC - 18..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................19 Broadband Poverty Advantage...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................20 Broadband Poverty Advantage...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................21 Broadband Poverty Advantage...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................22 Broadband Poverty Advantage...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................23 Broadband GII Advantage......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................24 Broadband GII Advantage......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................25 Democracy Extension................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................26 AT: People in poverty interact with the Gov.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................27 AT: Representative Democracy Good.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................28 AT: Plan doesnt solve Participation.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................29 Internet solves political participation.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................29 AT: Plan Doesnt solve Participation........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................30 Federal Government Key to Internet Democracy......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................31 Democracy Solves Econ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................32 Democracy solves Security........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................33 Democracy Solves Freedom......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................34 Democracy Solves Genocide.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................35 Democracy Solves Terrorism....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................36 Democracy Solves Heg..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................37 Competitiveness Extensions Competitiveness Low...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................38 Competitiveness Extension Competitiveness Low.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................39 Competitiveness Extension Broadband Competitiveness..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................40 Competitiveness Extension Broadband Competitiveness..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................41 Competitiveness Extension Broadband Competitiveness..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................42 Competitiveness Extension Competitiveness Hege...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................43 Competitiveness Extension Competitiveness Hege...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................44 Hegemony Decline War........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................45 Federal Action Key....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................46 AT: Private Sector Solves..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................47 States Perm Solvency..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................48 AT: Infrastructure solves...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................49

UM Classic Sophomore Lab

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Broadband 1AC - 1
Contention 1 is Inherency
The Digital Age of telecommunications has dawned, National Broadband is key for the US to be a part of this transformation The Von Coalition 06/02/08. Submitted to the FCC.(IP Industry Advocate, REPLY COMMENTS OF THE VOICE ON THE NET COALITION http://www.von.org/usr_files/USF%20--%20Broadband%20reply%20comments%206-2-08.pdf ) TP At the dawn of the analog communications age, this nation made a bold commitment to achieving universal access to the predominant communications technology of the time - telephone service. America's Universal Service system has been a cornerstone of our telecommunications policy for over 70 years - enhancing the value of the network and increasing our quality of life in immeasurable ways. The policy was instrumental in extending narrowband telephone connectivity in rural America, which helped enable the dial-up Internet revolution. Yet for all its past success, Universal Service support today is at a crossroads. The Universal Service Fund (USF) is ill-prepared for today's broadband realities, and in its current form may in fact be counterproductive in achieving the transition from narrowband to broadband communication networks. Therefore, at the dawn of the digital age, we need a similarly far-sighted vision and commitment to help the U.S. become a broadband nation, and to support the predominant communications technology of this century - broadband. Obamas recent broadband expansion was largely ineffective in reaching poverty stricken people. Lack of public support indicates that no more expansion is ahead. Cecilia Kang, 3/1/09. (Washington Post Staff Writer, One Step off the Superhighway: Push to Expand Web Access Leaves Urban Poor Behind, Washington Post) TP President Obama made his first major push for the Web this month when he signed off on the stimulus bill that includes $7.2 billion to bring high-speed Internet to rural America. But some critics say the administration's plan largely overlooks the biggest group of disconnected people: the urban poor. One provision in the stimulus plan could provide about $250 million for service and training in urban areas. Some of that money would likely go toward boosting efforts at community centers, but interest groups say the amount is not enough to help an estimated 21 million low-income people to get online. Access isn't the issue for them. In many of the nation's cities, residents have more than one option for service providers. What many do not have is the money to hop on the information superhighway. "I have the will and the determination to get it for my kids," Petworth resident Judith Theodore said. "But I don't have the money." Theodore scrambles daily between public libraries in the District so that the oldest of her three children has access to a computer to do his homework, and she can search for a job. "The Internet is becoming as important as electricity and gas," Theodore said. A growing number of cities are asking residents to renew driver's licenses or pay tickets online. More patients are connecting with physicians and pharmacists online. Even more of the world's social connections revolve around the Web, from Facebook to MySpace to seniors turning to Flickr to check out pictures of their grandchildren. A survey last May by the Pew Internet and American Life Project showed that about one-third of people who do not have high-speed Internet or broadband service said it was because service was too expensive. In the District, 41 percent of all homes do not subscribe to dial-up or broadband Internet service, according to an October 2007 report from the Census Bureau. There are several ideas for tackling this problem. One is grants to build local "hot spots" in public housing units where residents could get free wireless service. Another would be training programs where youngsters are given laptops and pay for offering computer and online training and trouble-shooting to low-income elderly consumers -- one of the biggest demographic groups not using the Web, according to Rey Ramsey, president of OneEconomy.com, a nonprofit group that provides technology to low-income communities. "We're looking at this as an initial investment on adoption issues, but there's going to need to be more resources," Ramsey said. Free Press, a public interest group that advocates for universal access to the Web, has called for $1.2 billion for broadband subsidies and training. Many, however, question whether putting taxpayer money into shrinking the digital divide is the best way to help poor communities. At an American Enterprise Institute conference last week, former FCC chief economist Michael Katz said he commissioned a study on the effects of a $7 billion rural telephone service program. The conclusion was that the program had minimal impact on towns that received subsidies for phone service. Instead of putting billions of dollars into telecommunications programs, he said a bigger social good would be to stop infant mortality or end gang violence in Los Angeles. "There are a lot higher social value programs we could be doing," Katz said. But Theodore, who lives in a rental rowhouse in Petworth, points out that companies like drugstore chain CVS and McDonald's increasingly are putting application processes online. Public assistance programs that might aid her family also are moving to the Web. Theodore lost her job as a real estate agent a year ago. She cannot afford a computer. Even if she could, there's no place to carve $30 to $50 a month for broadband service fees out of her monthly $1,100 budget. "I feel like everyone is driving on this fast road and I'm a little car with just three wheels, sometimes just two and a half," Theodore said. Theodore said that last month her 11-year-old son Steven was researching Web sites for a geography paper on Chad when the library computer network shut down because of a technological malfunction. She said he received his first failing grade. 2

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Broadband 1AC - 2
Unwillingness to stimulate Broadband access is deterring US IT leadership. A unified national policy is needed to solve. Thomas Bleha 2005 (Former US diplomat to Japan now a reporter for Foreign Affairs, and online think-tank on Foreign Relations, Down to the wire, Foreign Affairs) K.M Summary -- Once a leader in Internet innovation, the United States has fallen far behind Japan and other Asian states in deploying broadband and the latest mobile-phone technology. This lag will cost it dearly. By outdoing the United States, Japan and its neighbors are positioning themselves to be the first states to reap the benefits of the broadband era: economic growth, increased productivity, and a better quality of life. BROADBAND NATION? In the first three years of the Bush administration, the United States dropped from 4th to 13th place in global rankings of broadband Internet usage. Today, most U.S. homes can access only "basic" broadband, among the slowest, most expensive, and least reliable in the developed world, and the United States has fallen even further behind in mobile-phone-based Internet access. The lag is arguably the result of the Bush administration's failure to make a priority of developing these networks. In fact, the United States is the only industrialized state without an explicit national policy for promoting broadband. It did not have to be this way. Until recently, the United States led the world in Internet development. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency conceived of and then funded the Internet. In the 1980s, the National Science Foundation partially underwrote the university and college networks -- and the high-speed lines supporting them -- that extended the Internet across the nation. After the World Wide Web and mouse-driven browsers were developed in the early 1990s, the Internet was ready to take off. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore showed the way by promoting the Internet's commercialization, the National Infrastructure Initiative, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and remarkable e-commerce, e-government, and e-education programs. The private sector did the work, but the government offered a clear vision and strong leadership that created a competitive playing field for early broadband providers. Even though these policies had their share of detractors -- who claimed that excessive hype was used to sell wasteful projects and even blamed the Clinton administration for the dot-com bust -- they kept the United States in the forefront of Internet innovation and deployment through the 1990s. Things changed when the Bush administration took over in 2001 and set new priorities for the country: tax cuts, missile defense, and, months later, the war on terrorism. In the administration's first three years, President George W. Bush mentioned broadband just twice and only in passing. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) showed little interest in opening home telephone lines to outside competitors to drive down broadband prices and increase demand.

And, currently Lifeline and Link-up programs dont cover broadband Rosemary Kimball 7/26/05. (FCC representative, CC AND NARUC LAUNCH LIFELINE ACROSS AMERICA TO RAISE AWARENESS OF LIFELINE AND LINK-UP PROGRAMS) Press Release. http://www.lifeline.gov/ TP The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC) today launched "Lifeline Across America," a nationwide program to draw more low-income consumers into federal and state Lifeline and Link-up programs. These programs provide for discounts to low income households for both the initial installation of phone service (Link-Up) and monthly phone bills (Lifeline.)

UM Classic Sophomore Lab

Broadband Aff

Broadband 1AC - 3
Hence the Plan: The United States federal government should expand Lifeline and Link-Up to include broadband. We reserve right to clarify.

UM Classic Sophomore Lab

Broadband Aff

Broadband 1AC - 4
Contention 2 is The Advantages Advantage 1 is Digital Democracy
The American Democracy is being systemically undermined in the squo by lack of participation Rob Richie and Steven Hill, 04/05/03 (Executive director for the Center for Voting and Democracy and analyst for the center, Save our Democracy: A call to action, http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0405-10.htm) MSL Let's start with the appalling lack of debate in Congress over the Bush administration's dramatic shift to the concept of preemptive warfare. That was preceded by the inadequate response to the Enron energy scandals, just the tip of an iceberg of ongoing deregulation and subsidies to corporate interests. Combined with the complete absence of African Americans and Latinos in the U.S. Senate, the stalling of women's representation in Congress, the muted response to the presidential election debacle in Florida, and the history of duplicitous, poll-driven campaigns where winning candidates change their spots right after the election, it's no surprise that government is dangerously adrift from the needs and desires of average Americans. The resulting cynicism and resignation contribute to the United States having the lowest voter participation among well-established democracies. This lack of democracy matters, not only in and of itself but because of how it negatively impacts the national policies that affect everyday Americans. By numerous counts, the United States is the most unequal society in the advanced democratic world, with that inequality having glaring racial/ethnic, age, and gender dimensions. Child poverty in the U.S. is twenty percent, the highest by far in the Western world except Russia. Despite being the world's lone remaining superpower, we suffer from higher rates of poverty, infant mortality, homicide, and HIV infection, and from greater economic inequality, than other advanced democracies. People who are poor and marginalized contribute most to this lack of participation. This causes political underrepresentation from the same groups who would benefit most from policy change, leading to a vicious cycle of political disenfranchisement. Kevin Lanning, 08 (Florida Atlantic University, Democracy, Voting, and Disenfranchisement in the United States: A Social Psychological Perspective, Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 64, No. 3) LZ The origins of differential political participation, particularly with respect to voting, are not self-evident. A case could be made, for example, that those who suffer most from current policies have the most to gain from change, and should therefore be most likely to vote. Empirically, this does not hold. Rather, those who should be least satisfied with the status quo, such as the poor, the less educated, and the socially marginalized, are less likely to vote than those in positions of wealth and social privilege (Keyssar, 2000). This is a problem that reflects uneasily upon all three of the defining characteristics of democracy noted above. Low turnout indicates a deficit in agency and engagement on the part of potential voters; the fact that actual voters constitute a biased sample of those who are eligible to vote indicates an injury to the conception of democracy as equality as well. The association between turnout and measures of wealth, education, and power is a threat to the democratic ideal, for an entrenched leadership cannot be expected to defend the rights and needs of nonparticipants in the political process (e.g., Dahl, 2006). A positive association between status and political participation is a recipe for an acceleration of social inequalities, a positive feedback loop without an apparent correcting mechanism. Broadband reform breaks down traditional power structures so the poor can participate. Tamara Witschge, 04 (Amsterdam University, Online Deliberation: Possibilities of the Internet for Deliberative Democracy, Democracy Online, p. 109) LZ Empirical research, however, shows that citizens mostly discuss politics with people who hold the same views and have the same background. Given the difficult nature of political conflict, people tend to avoid it. Also, political power structures ensure that particular voices dominate public discourse, eliminating further oppositional or alternative voices. Moreover, current practices and attitudes in Western democracies correspond mostly to the interest-based type of democracy, where citizens do not need to leave their own subjective point of view or discuss and reason about their private interest in terms of the common good (Young 1996). Given this situation, where political talk, if conducted at all, almost never neets the requirements established by democratic theorists, much hope has been pinned on the internet. Not only could the Internet encourage more people to discuss politics by freeing them of psychological barriers, but it could do so by offering a (partial) solution to the problems that deliberative democracy is confronted withproblems previously seen as insurmountable. The Internetmakes manageable large-scale, many-to-many discussion and deliberation (Coleman and Goeze 2001: 17). It also seems to bring us closer to the solution of four problems in modern democracies difficult, if not impossible: time, size, knowledge, an access (Street 1997).

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Broadband 1AC - 5
Democracy reform requires universal access to the Internet with government programs that are specifically targeted to helping people in poverty. Robert W. McChesney, 03/96 (associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, The Internet and U. S. Communication Policy-Making in Historical and Critical Perspective, Journal of Communication, Vol. 46, No. 1, also available at http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol1/issue4/mcchesney.html) LZ It is also appealing to think that the new communication technologies can solve social problems, but they cannot. Only humans, acting consciously, can address and resolve problems like poverty, environmental degradation, racism, sexism, and militarism. As Singer (1995) notes, our task is to overcome "the contradiction between our technological genius and the absurdity of our social organization" (p. 533). We encounter the magnificent potential of the new technologies with the wet blanket of conventional wisdom draped over the fires of our social and political imaginations. Nor is the blanket there by accident: Those who benefit by the status quo have helped place it there and are holding it down. So, can the Internet and communication technologies save democracy from capitalism? No, not unless they are explicitly deployed for public service principles. In the short term, that means struggling for universal access, for computer literacy, and for a well-subsidized and democratic noncommercial and nonprofit media sector. In the long term, that means working for explicit public planning and deliberation in crafting fundamental communications policy. Any hope of success will depend on linking and integrating communication concerns to larger efforts to bring heretofore underrepresented segments of the citizenry into the political arena, thereby reducing the power of business and working toward lessening inequality in our society. A high-quality democracy requires participation from all members and regard for the political rights of the poor. Larry Diamond and Leonardo Morlino, 10/04 (Diamond is coeditor of the Journal of Democracy, codirector of the International Forum for Democratic Studies, and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Morlino is professor of political science at the University of Florence and director of the Research Centre on Southern Europe, The Quality of Democracy: An Overview, Journal of Democracy, Vol. 14, No. 4) LZ Participation. No regime can be a democracy unless it grants all of its adult citizens formal rights of political participation, including the franchise. But a good democracy must ensure that all citizens are in fact able to make use of these formal rights to influence the decision-making process: to vote, to organize, to assemble, to protest, and to lobby for their interests. With regard to participation, democratic quality is high when we in fact observe extensive citizen participation not only through voting but in the life of political parties and civil society organizations, in the discussion of public policy issues, in communicating with and demanding accountability from elected representatives, in monitoring official conduct, and in direct engagement with public issues at the local level. Participation in these respects is intimately related to political equality. Even if everyones formal rights of participation are upheld, inequalities in political resources can make it harder for lower-status individuals to exercise those rights. Thus a fundamental condition for widespread participation in a good democracy is broad diffusion of basic education and literacy, and with it a modicum of knowledge about government and public affairs. Important again, as a supporting condition, is the political culture, which should value participation and the equal worth and dignity of all citizens. The latter implies as well tolerance of political and social differences, and thus acceptance by groups and individuals that others (including weaker parties and ones adversaries) also have equal rights under law. Improving democracy in the US is vital to promoting global democracy Michael Petrou, 3/3/09 (Maclean's writer, The End of Democracy, Maclean's, Vol. 122, Iss. 8, http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/03/03/the-end-of-democracy/) LZ That American efforts to promote democracy abroad will likely be restrained doesnt necessarily mean they will be less effective, only less forceful. There is a strong line of argument that the best way Americans can spread democracy around the world is to be the best model of a working democracy that we possibly can, and that model is often undermined by our quasi-imperial international efforts that lead to things like Guantnamo and Abu Ghraib, says Peter Beinhart, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, in an interview with Macleans. We will be most effective at spreading democracy by focusing on things that make American democracy work best. By this argument, improving Americas economy may also embolden democracys proponents in the developing world by demonstrating the economic advantages of political freedom.

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Democracy key to prevent extinction from tyrannical regimes Peter Montague, 10/14/98 (co-founder and director of Environmental Research Foundation (E.R.F.) in Annapolis, Democracy and the environment, Green Left, http://www.greenleft.org.au/1998/337/20135) LZ In the modern era, open democratic decision-making is essential to survival. Only by informing people, and trusting their decisions, can we survive as a human society. Our technologies are now too complex and too powerful to be left solely in the hands of a few experts. If they are allowed to make decisions behind closed doors, small groups of experts can make fatal errors. One thinks of the old Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) justifying above-ground nuclear weapons testing. In the early 1950s, their atomic fallout was showering the population with strontium-90, a highly radioactive element that masquerades as calcium when it is taken into the body. Once in the body, strontium-90 moves into the bones, where it irradiates the bone marrow, causing cancer. The AEC's best and brightest studied this problem in detail and argued in secret memos that the only way strontium-90 could get into humans would be through cattle grazing on contaminated grass. They calculated the strontium-90 intake of the cows, and the amount that would end up in the cows' bones. On that basis, the AEC reported to Congress in 1953, The only potential hazard to human beings would be the ingestion of bone splinters which might be intermingled with muscle tissue in butchering and cutting of the meat. An insignificant amount would enter the body in this fashion. Thus, they concluded, strontium-90 was not endangering people.The following year, Congress declassified many of the AEC's deliberations. As soon as these memos became public, scientists and citizens began asking, What about the cows' milk? The AEC scientists had no response. They had neglected to ask whether strontium-90, mimicking calcium, would contaminate cows' milk, which of course it did. Secrecy in government and corporate decision-making continues to threaten the well-being of everyone on the planet as new technologies are deployed at an accelerating pace after inadequate consideration of their effects. Open, democratic decision-making is no longer a luxury. In the modern world, it is a necessity for human survival. And, Democracy solves their disads Solves Nuclear war, Economic decline, trade, and terrorism Diamond, Larry, 1992 (Hastings fellow, Promoting Democracy, Foreign Policy) MSL The impact on democracies demonstrates the fallacy in thinking that real interests can be distinguished from the U.S. Interest in fostering democracy. A more democratic world would be a safer, saner, and more prosperous world for the United States. The experience of this century bears important lessons. Democratic countries do not go to war with one another or sponsor terrorism against other democracies. They do not build weapons of mass destruction to threaten one another. Democratic countries are more reliable, open, and enduring trading partners, and offer more stable climates for investment. Because they must answer to their own citizens, democracies are more environmentally responsible. They are more likely to honor international treaties and value legal obligations since their openness makes it much more difficult to breach them in secret. Precisely because they respect civil liberties, rights of property, and the rule of law within their own borders, democracies are the only reliable foundation on which to build a new world order of security and prosperity. A truly new world order means qualitatively different world, not just the temporary leashing of dictatorships or incremental progress on arms control, terrorism, and trade. Promoting democracy must therefore be at the heart of Americas global vision. Democracy should be the central focus--the defining feature of US foreign policy. Specifically, nuclear war and environmental destruction are inevitable in the squo due to the disconnect between government, and public opinion Noam Chomsky, 4/06, (professor emeritus, MIT, Failed States, Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt, pg. 1)MSL The selection of issues that should rank high on the agenda of concern for human welfare and rights is, naturally, a subjective matter. But there are a few choices that seem unavoidable, because they bear so directly on the prospects for decent survival. Amont them are at least these three: nuclear war, environmental disaster, and the fact that the government of the worlds leading power is acting in ways that increase the liklihood of these catastrophes. It is important to stress the government, because the population, not surprisingly, does not agree. That brings up a fourth issue that should deeply concern Americans, and the workld: the sharp divide between public opinion and public policy, one of the reasons for the fear, which cannot casually be put aside, that the American system as a whole is in real trouble--that ist is heading in a direction that spells the end of its historic values [of] equality , liberty, and meaningful democracy.

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Broadband 1AC - 7
Advantage 2 is Healthcare
The poor are increasingly eligible for healthcare, the only problem is getting the word out Market Wire, 2/28/08 (Many More Americans Now Eligible for Free Healthcare Under Latest Poverty Guidelines; Getting Out Word to Uninsured Is Goal of Coverageforall.org) MB America's uninsured and working poor looking to qualify for public health programs got an economic assist this month as the 2008 Federal Poverty Level (FPL) guidelines were increased by the federal government. The end result is an increase in the number of citizens who can qualify for free or low cost government health insurance, according to the Foundation for Health Coverage Education (FHCE). County, state and federal sponsored health coverage programs set eligibility requirements based on the FPL guidelines that are updated every year. The following is a sample range of how the increase impacts programs in different states. New Hampshire -- The income ceiling for a family of four for the Healthy Kids program increased from $82,600 to $84,800 at 400% of the FPL New York -- The income level for a family of four qualifying for Child Health Plus increased from $51,625 to $53,000 a year at 250% of the FPL California -- The income level for a family of 3 qualifying for Aid to Mothers and Infants (married, pregnant woman) at 300% of the FPL increased from $51,510 to $52,800 "It's important to get the word out about these increases because nearly 33% of the 47 million uninsured in America are eligible for government-sponsored health insurance but aren't signed up," said Phil Lebherz, founder of FHCE. Charged with the mission of educating Americans about their public and private insurance options, the organization works on a daily basis through its free U.S. Uninsured Help Line (1-800-234-1317) to help get people enrolled in public program offerings. The number of individuals designated as "poor" has increased approximately 10% over the last decade. National poverty data are calculated using the official Census definition of poverty. Under this definition, poverty is determined by comparing pretax cash income with the poverty threshold, which adjusts for family size and composition. In 2007, according to the official measure, more than 36.5 million people, about 12.5 percent of the total U.S. population, lived in poverty. Lebherz and healthcare advocates believe that many people are simply unaware of these benefits, or are unsure how to sign up. Through FHCE's website -- www.coverageforall.org -- information on available coverage, eligibility, monthly cost and public program applications for all 50 states are available. The move to an Internet-based application process is an effort to help solve a serious problem that experts believe factors into why such a high percentage of the country's uninsured are not availing themselves of the current government assistance programs. Poor populations exhibit higher rates of disease due to lack of information Mary Schmeida & Ramona McNeal 2007 (Mary Schmeida is a Senior Nurse Researcher at the Cleveland Clinic and Ramona McNeal is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield in the Department of Political Studies. The Telehealth Divide: Disparities in Searching Public Health Information Online Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 18(3), 63747) Access to health care is a long-standing problem for many Americans. Most underserved populations include rural residents, minority group members, elderly people, emergency care recipients, and Medicaid-eligible children and low-income and/or disabled adults. The disparities disfavoring the rural poor are of particular concern because the rural poor exhibit a higher rate of many diseases than their urban counterparts. Compared with people in urban counties, people in rural counties have higher rates of respiratory disease, gastric ulcers, arthritis, hearing loss, and vision loss. Non-metropolitan residents evaluated their health status negatively more often than those in metropolitan areas. Rural residents are at a disadvantage for prevention and early diagnostic services, and close monitoring of chronic illnesses. This translates to worse clinical outcomes for rural people, as is evident in the fact that metropolitan residents report fewer diseases.Lack of health insurance is a long-standing problem in rural America and is considered a rural health priority. People living in non-metropolitan areas are less likely to have health insurance coverage than their metropolitan counterparts. Rising health care costs are a disincentive for employers to offer comprehensive insurance benefits to employees and their families.1, In rural areas, there is a larger share of small businesses and low-paying jobs, which translates into fewer employers offering health insurance coverage for rural people. Unaffordable health care insurance and lack of employer based insurance are conditions underlying rural demand for Medicaid services.1,4 Rural residents have also experienced relatively few choices in health care plans. While the Medicare1Choice program created by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 was made to improve choice of plans and benefits for rural Medicare beneficiaries, enrollment in this Medicare program has declined over the years partly because rural residents have less access to health insurance information than urbanites, and partly because medical specialists and services covered in the plan are often not geographically accessible.6 Without Medicare, most elderly rural people do not have access to health services.

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Broadband 1AC - 8
Barriers to online searches lead to divides in health care services between demographic groups Mary Schmeida & Ramona McNeal 2007 (Mary Schmeida is a Senior Nurse Researcher at the Cleveland Clinic and Ramona McNeal is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield in the Department of Political Studies. The Telehealth Divide: Disparities in Searching Public Health Information Online Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 18(3), 63747) The rise of e-government has been accompanied by high expectations that government information and services will effectively and efficiently be provided to citizens. One such service is online health care to alleviate some of the disparity in health care distribution to the poor, especially in rural areas. Currently, there are barriers that hinder the potential of online searches for health care information. The literature suggests three obstructions to the Internet altering its capabilities: lack of motivation, limited access, and deficiencies in technical and information literacy skills. These barriers, which arise largely from socioeconomic characteristics such as income, race, and education, as well as geography (such as the divide between rural and urban areas) may ultimately create gaps in the distribution of health care services.

We will Isolate 2 Scenarios this divide triggers:

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Scenario 1: Bio-Terrorism
The poor, who dont have access to healthcare info in the squo, will dramatically increase disease spread in a bio-terror attack Matthew K. Wynia and Lawrence O. Gostin, July 2004 (MD and MPH, with the Institute for Ethics, American Medical Association, Chicago, Ill.; JD, with the Center for Law and the Publics Health, Georgetown University, Washington, DC; Ethical Challenges in Preparing for Bioterrorism: Barriers Within the Health Care System, American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 94, No. 7) MB In some bioterror scenarios, such as an aerosol release into a crowd, simultaneous widespread infections would mark an attack; if this were the case, then limiting the outbreak through early detection might provide little benefit (though early recognition and treatment of the illness might still save lives). But smaller-scale attacks are potentially much easier for terrorist organizations to organize, finance, and carry out.16 As the anthrax mailings of October 2001 demonstrated, even relatively small attacks can provoke widespread anxiety and disruption. In a stealth attack, early detection becomes critically important, as it is in stemming naturally occurring outbreaks. To improve detection, the United States is expanding the public health systems capacity for surveillance. However, public health surveillance relies largely on reports from health care professionals. Persons with symptoms arrive first in physicians offices, clinics, or hospital emergency departments. For this system to work, therefore, patients must first have access to the health care system, and their illnesses must then be reported to the public health system. The health care system must improve its reporting performance. Many physicians are unaware of reporting requirements, complain of the administrative burden of reporting, do not see reporting as important to patient care, or are unconvinced that reporting is of value.17 Reporting must be made easier (or even automatic, through electronic links), and physicians should be given feedback on how their reports are used to safeguard public health, reinforcing the value of the physicianpublic health partnership. Examination of the physicians role in reporting contagious illnesses should be included in new curricula on professionalism18 in the context of exploring the social roles of the medical professionan issue to which we will return. In the area of patient access to health care, more challenging dilemmas arise. Strong ethical reasons have long been recognized as supporting universal access to a decent minimal set of health care services,19 yet our nation has been unable or unwilling to accomplish this.20 Perhaps if policymakers understand that inadequate access to care poses a threat to national security, progress can be made.21,22 In the United States, more than 40 million Americans lack health insurance, and this number is rising.23,24 Although some uninsured individuals use emergency rooms to obtain care when they are acutely ill, many of the uninsured and underinsured avoid the health care system for as long as possible.20 Some have argued that bioterror-related illnesses are so severe that anyone affected would surely seek care.25 But uninsured patients discriminate poorly between appropriate and inappropriate care and tend to avoid both equally.26 Numerous studies demonstrate that the uninsured are more likely to present in an advanced stage of illness, and many die without ever being evaluated.2729 Terrorists undoubtedly recognize that even a small-scale release of an infectious agent into a community with a high rate of uninsurance might be devastatingly effective. Because most of the uninsured are employed and working throughout cities, suburbs, and rural areas, starting an outbreak in such a communityusing a low-tech approach, such as an infected "martyr"would reduce the likelihood of early detection and raise the odds of broad spread of the disease.30 Unfortunately, this scenario is not mere speculation: "natural experiments" that simulate such an attack have demonstrated the vulnerability of poor, especially uninsured immigrant, populations and their ability to spread disease throughout the population.31,32 Extinction This outweighs nuclear war Richard Ochs 6/9/02 (Naturalist Grand Teton National Park with a Masters in Natural Resource Management from Rutgers , Biological Weapons Must Be Abolished Immediately, http://www.freefromterror.net/other_articles/abolish.html) M Of all the weapons of mass destruction, the genetically engineered biological weapons, many without a known cure or vaccine, are an extreme danger to the continued survival of life on earth. Any perceived military value or deterrence pales in comparison to the great risk these weapons pose just sitting in vials in laboratories. While a "nuclear winter," resulting from a massive exchange of nuclear weapons, could also kill off most of life on earth and severely compromise the health of future generations, they are easier to control. Biological weapons, on the other hand, can get out of control very easily, as the recent anthrax attacks has demonstrated. There is no way to guarantee the security of these doomsday weapons because very tiny amounts can be stolen or accidentally released and then grow or be grown to horrendous proportions. The Black Death of the Middle Ages would be small in comparison to the potential damage bioweapons could cause. Abolition of chemical weapons is less of a priority because, while they can also kill millions of people outright, their persistence in the environment would be less than nuclear or biological agents or more localized. Hence, chemical weapons would have a lesser effect on future generations of innocent people and the natural environment. Like the Holocaust, once a localized chemical extermination is over, it is over. With nuclear and biological weapons, the killing will probably never end. Radioactive elements last tens of thousands of years and will keep causing cancers virtually forever. Potentially worse than that, bio-engineered agents by the hundreds with no known cure could wreck even greater calamity on the human race than could persistent radiation. AIDS and ebola viruses are just a small example of recently emerging plagues with no known cure or vaccine. Can we imagine hundreds of such plagues? Human extinction is now possible. 10

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Broadband solves this, it is critical in making health information available to those in poverty Mary Schmeida & Ramona McNeal 2007 (Mary Schmeida is a Senior Nurse Researcher at the Cleveland Clinic and Ramona McNeal is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield in the Department of Political Studies. The Telehealth Divide: Disparities in Searching Public Health Information Online Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 18(3), 63747) Research on broadband has found that its usefulness goes beyond increasing speed. Broadband also helps facilitate online tasks including information searches and improves Internet skills.40 These effects of broadband usage are thought to occur as a result of the convenience and quality of broadband encouraging greater Internet usage resulting in improved skills.41 To control for the possible effects of broadband use, two dummy variables were included for Internet access at home (dial-up and none) with broadband as the reference group. Since greater Internet use may result in improved Internet skills, we control for personal experience with a measure of the number of continuous years as an Internet user. Based on the existing literature, we expect people with broadband connections, more experience accessing the Internet, and living in urban areas to be more likely to search for Medicare and Medicaid information online.

Specifically, broadband allows access to Medicaid Mary Schmeida & Ramona McNeal 2007 (Mary Schmeida is a Senior Nurse Researcher at the Cleveland Clinic and Ramona McNeal is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield in the Department of Political Studies. The Telehealth Divide: Disparities in Searching Public Health Information Online Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 18(3), 63747) As predicted, the number of years with Internet access was statistically significant and positive, suggesting that more online experience improves computer literacy and navigation skills, an important prerequisite to specialized health information searches. As expected, individuals with no home Internet access were less likely to search for Medicare or Medicaid information than those with broadband connections. However, there was no difference found in information searches between those with dial-up and broadband access at home. This is expected as dial-up is more widely available and a lag in rural broadband technology still exists. Rural areas and those that are served by smaller regional carriers are still least likely to have broadband service. This is the result of technology that requires the broadband customer to be within a 3.5-mile area of a local exchange carrier. This requirement limits the profitability of service to low-population areas.46,47 These patterns may change, however, as states incrementally advance through legislation and pilot studies and as the Federal Communications Commission continues to examine policies to advance cutting-edge broadband technology/ service to rural areas.48,49

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Scenario 2: The Economy
Healthcare is a huge drain on the economy, costing trillions per year National Coalition on Health Care (NCHC) 2009 (Health Insurance Costs, http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml) MB By several measures, health care spending continues to rise at a rapid rate and forcing businesses and families to cut back on operations and household expenses respectively. In 2008, total national health expenditures were expected to rise 6.9 percent -- two times the rate of inflation.1 Total spending was $2.4 TRILLION in 2007, or $7900 per person1. Total health care spending represented 17 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). U.S. health care spending is expected to increase at similar levels for the next decade reaching $4.3 TRILLION in 2017, or 20 percent of GDP.1 In 2008, employer health insurance premiums increased by 5.0 percent two times the rate of inflation. The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $12,700. The annual premium for single coverage averaged over $4,700.2 Experts agree that our health care system is riddled with inefficiencies, excessive administrative expenses, inflated prices, poor management, and inappropriate care, waste and fraud. These problems significantly increase the cost of medical care and health insurance for employers and workers and affect the security of families. Broadband can save trillions in Healthcare money Robert E. Litan, Dec. 2005 (An economist and lawyer who has served in a variety of federal agencies and White House posts, Bob Litan is an expert on antitrust; banking; Internet policy; and other financial and regulatory issues. Great Expectations: Potential Economic Benefits to the Nation from Accelerated Broadband Deployment to Older Americans and Americans with Disabilities, New Millennium Research Council) M.E. www.newmillenniumresearch.org/archive/Litan_FINAL_120805.pdf Internet-based technologies have much potential to bring substantial cost savings to the medical care system. Several years ago, economists Patricia Danzon and Michael Furukawa [2001] analyzed the multiple opportunities for savings of just administrative costs in the system. Among other things, they concluded that the savings from web-based claims processing alone would shave 1.5 percent off of total U.S. health care expenditures (then estimated at $1.2 trillion in 1999). Additional savings could be realized through widespread online access to patients electronic medical records (EMR); clinical decision support and payer guidelines; prescription and ordering of medical tests; real-time verification of reimbursement eligibility; appointments scheduling and referrals; patient education and interaction (including email appointments rather than in-person visits); compliance monitoring; and greater use of the Web in ordering supplies Specifically, Broadband is key to telehealth Julie Schwartz,1/1/09,Benton Foundation Writer and Progressive States Network, Broadband and Technology Investments: Policy Options for 2009 http://www.benton.org/node/17571 , K.M High-speed Internet infrastructure is the key to states rejuvenating and sustaining their economy. Universal and affordable high-speed Internet enables states to utilize technology to provide better access to healthcare, promote energy efficient and environmentally friendly policies, and provide increased educational opportunities to all. For example, the utilization of telehealth technology has the potential to deliver huge cost savings to America's health care system--over $300 billion annually. And this is just one sliver of the savings pie. It is estimated that widespread adoption of high-speed Internet will add $134 billion to the U.S. economy annually and create 1.2 million new jobs per year.

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Telehealth is key to reducing the cost of healthcare, which is key to fixing the economy. New Jersey proves. US Fed News, 3/3/09 (REPS. PALLONE, HOLT: HOUSE APPROVES FUNDING FOR TELEHEALTH TECHNOLOGY) MB U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Rush Holt (D-NJ) announced today that the U.S. House of Representatives approved a Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 omnibus bill that includes their request of $238,000 to expand the Visiting Nurses Association of Central New Jersey (VNACJ) telehealth program. The funding approved today will enable VNACJ to purchase new, state-of-the-art telemonitoring technology, which will permit the association to expand its current program. Telehealth is the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, and public health and health administration. Remote health monitoring technologies deliver health management programs that guide patients in self-care, education and the collection of clinical information, including health self-assessment, symptoms and vital signs. In conjunction with CentraState Healthcare System and the Monmouth County Office on Aging, VNACJ launched and implemented a successful telehealth program for patients in central New Jersey with congestive heart failure, diabetes, and obesity. In 2007, VNACJ was able to monitor 442 frail cardiac patients, which decreased rehospitalization by 60 percent. "The Visiting Nurses Association of New Jersey's telehealth program is saving lives and helping reduce the cost of health care in our state," Pallone said. "The program is so successful that there is currently a waiting list for those interested in participating in the program. The funds approved today will ensure that more New Jerseyans, who are unable to make it to the doctor on a regular basis, have access to this important service." "This is the type of successful local program we should be supporting," Holt said. "We can't fix the economy without fixing health care. By providing preventative care to New Jersey residents, the Visiting Nurses Association of New Jersey is saving health dollars and improving outcomes for patients." The VNACJ is New Jersey's largest Visiting Nurse Association and is the second largest in the country, with over 1,000 employees providing comprehensive in-home, community-based and primary health care services to more than 100,000 individuals each year. This week, the House approved a $410 billion spending bill that combines nine appropriations bills into one omnibus bill funding domestic programs and foreign operations for FY 2009, which officially began on October 1, 2008. The bill now goes to the Senate for its approval before heading to the president's desk for his signature. The U.S. must resolve its economic problems to avoid global instability and nuclear war. Walter Russell Mead, 2/4/09 (Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations ( Only Makes You Stronger, the New Republic, http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=571cbbb9-2887-4d81-8542-92e83915f5f8&p=2) If current market turmoil seriously damaged the performance and prospects of India and China, the current crisis could join the Great Depression in the list of economic events that changed history, even if the recessions in the West are relatively short and mild. The United States should stand ready to assist Chinese and Indian financial authorities on an emergency basis--and work very hard to help both countries escape or at least weather any economic downturn. It may test the political will of the Obama administration, but the United States must avoid a protectionist response to the economic slowdown. U.S. moves to limit market access for Chinese and Indian producers could poison relations for years. For billions of people in nuclear-armed countries to emerge from this crisis believing either that the United States was indifferent to their well-being or that it had profited from their `distress could damage U.S. foreign policy far more severely than any mistake made by George W. Bush.

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Advantage 3 is Competitiveness
US competitiveness is low; technology is the main factor Gary Anthes November 2008 (Gary is an editor and feature writer at Computer World and is based in the newspaper's Washington, D.C. bureau. He has a degree in mathematics from Duke University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School, US INNOVATION: On The Skids Computerworld, 42(46), 36-39) M.E. IT WOULD be hard to exaggerate the angst that has gripped the U.S. in recent weeks as markets have continued to churn and assets have melted. But the headlines that have made us dread picking up the newspaper mask a long-term problem that may shape the nation's future even more than Uncle Sam's unprecedented efforts to rescue the economy. By most measures, the U.S. has been in a decade-long decline in global technological competitiveness. The reasons are many and complex, but central among them is the country's retreat from long-term basic research in science and technology, coupled with a surge in R&D in countries such as China. R&D has two components, of course, and published figures showing a rise in "research and development" hide a troubling trend. Companies still spend billions annually on development, typically aimed at the next product cycle or two. But the kind of pure research that led to the invention of the transistor and the Internet is declining as companies bow to the pressure to improve quarterly and annual financial results. Broadband expansion is crucial to American competitiveness. Karen Kerrigan, 6/8/09. (President and CEO Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, National Broadband Plan.) TP https://www.neca.org/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_0_307_206_0_43/http %3B/prodnet.www.neca.org/wawatch/wwpdf/68sbe.pdf Our members, and small business owners throughout the country, have a vested interest in stable telecommunications policy as entrepreneurs stand to gain the most from technological advancements and tools that come with robust investment in this sector. Thousands of small to mid-size businesses and their employees are helping to deploy and service our nations broadband infrastructure, and they too will continue to benefit from the certainty that comes with a steady policy environment. The economy desperately needs the activity of these growth-oriented firms, and an uncertain and damaging investment climate will no doubt affect the innovation and job creation that is generated by them. A National Broadband Plan that centers on collaborative strategies to bring these much needed services and tools to our nations small business owners is an effort that our economy needs during this critical period. A plan that harnesses government resources and the private sector for helping small firms embrace and adopt these technologies will yield both short and long-term benefits for U.S. competitiveness. An inclusive initiative that encourages investment and involvement will harness U.S. ingenuity and know-how, which will ultimately lead to full-scale broadband capability for all Americans. And, Broadband is crucial to IT competitiveness Robert Atkinson June 2007 (Robert Atkinson is the founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington, DC-based technology policy think tank. Before coming to ITIF, Dr. Atkinson was Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute and Director of PPIs Technology & New Economy Project The Case for National Broadband Policy The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation) M.E. http://www.itif.org/files/CaseForNationalBroadbandPolicy.pdf Broadband can help maintain U.S. IT industry competitiveness. Leadership in broadband is important for maintaining high standards of living and national competitiveness for two main reasons. First, having leading-edge technology buyers (both businesses and individuals) can help IT companies gain competitive advantage and boost IT jobs domestically. As Michael Porter wrote in The Competitive Advantage of Nations, A nations firms gain competitive advantage if domestic buyers are among the worlds most sophisticated and demanding buyers for a product or service.30 Sophisticated IT buyers appear to play a particularly important role. As The World Economic Forum notes, IT readiness, and other factors related to national endogenous potential for innovation are believed to be important drivers of any countrys competitiveness, they become central for nations and companies that, for their stage of development, need efficient production processes and innovation to compete.31 There are signs that nations leading in broadband are translating that lead into increased competitive advantage for domestic IT companies.

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Technological competitiveness is key to US Global leadership Anne-Marie Slaughter, July 2008 (University Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. Strategic Leadership: Framework for a 21st Century National Security Strategy Center for a New American Security) M.E. http://www.cnas.org/files/documents/publications/SlaughterDaalderJentleson_StrategicLeadership_July08.pdf The United States cannot lead abroad, strategically or otherwise, without rebuilding our strength at home and reinvigorating our people. Its global role must rest on the solid domestic foundations of a strong economy and an educated, healthy, and innovative society. The massive triple deficits run up in U.S. fiscal, trade, and international financial accounts are a major source of self-inflicted economic vulnerability. Our economic edge is in danger of being eroded. We can maintain it, however, if we recommit to and adapt the policies that have supported American technological innovation so well in the past. We must once again robustly invest in science and technology, education, research and development, and public infrastructure. Solving the national healthcare crisis is also critical, both because of the drag that it puts on the countrys international economic competitiveness and as a matter of social justice. National energy and environmental policies, including concerted efforts to develop green technologies, are a particular area of unfulfilled yet enormous potential. The Manhattan and Apollo projects demonstrated the United States ability to meet major scientific-technological challenges. With environmental protection increasingly seen as a growth industry, the private sector can and should be further incentivized. NGOs with their impressive capacity to mobilize and be policy entrepreneurs in their own right also provide networks for collaboration and innovation with both economic and environmental benefits. Washington must work to ensure that prosperity is broadly shared by all Americans. The eroding consensus for free trade among Americans is less a plea for protectionism than a call for more concerted efforts for greater equity in the benefits that open economies bring. For so many Americans, jobs are a matter of dignity, not just income. Yet at a time when the integration of China and India into the world economy is expanding the global labor force by 70 percent and when technological change is exposing white-collar occupations to low-wage foreign competition for the first time, already-thin safety nets have frayed still further. The task at hand is not to try to wall off our economy; it is to rebuild the foundations of our long-term competitiveness in ways that create a new generation of opportunity. Expanded and improved job retraining programs, along with enhanced unemployment programs and wage insurance, are key parts of a 20 domestic strategy to better promote adjustment and competitiveness in ways consistent with a fair, open and free global trading system. But we will have to do more than thatstarting by building an innovative edge in the kinds of technologies that are as far ahead of cars and high-carbon products today as steel and combustion engines were ahead of iron and buggies at the outset of the industrial revolution. Americans are rightly concerned about problems like the breach of public faith demonstrated in the inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina, the corrosiveness of American public discourse, diminishing social mobility, and rising economic inequality. Because the appeal of the American domestic model has long been an important source of U.S. global power and influence, addressing these problems is both a domestic and an international imperative. A new wave of progressive reforms must also extend to our political system: to ensure the integrity of our electoral system and to bolster national security by preserving the sanctity of American civil liberties and democratic practices. While all Americans respond when leaders provide a compelling vision, the next president must speak to the countrys youth in particular. The United States must foster a new global generation. Our young people are our greatest asset; with the proper education, values, and motivation, they can engage the world in ways that will advance their own lives and careers and strengthen the nations security, economy, and global role.

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U.S. leadership solves every major impact in existence, its collapse will trigger great power wars Thayer , 2006 (Professor of Security Studies at Missouri State, In Defense of Primacy, The National Interest, p. 32-37) M.E. U.S. primacy--and the bandwagoning effect-has also given us extensive influence in international politics, allowing the United States to shape the behavior of states and international institutions. Such influence comes in many forms, one of which is America's ability to create coalitions of like-minded states to free Kosovo, stabilize Afghanistan, invade Iraq or to stop proliferation through the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). Doing so allows the United States to operate with allies outside of the where it can be stymied by opponents. American-led wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq stand in contrast to the UN's inability to save the people of Darfur or even to conduct any military campaign to realize the goals of its charter. The quiet effectiveness of the PSI in dismantling Libya's WMD programs and unraveling the A. Q. Khan proliferation network are in sharp relief to the typically toothless attempts by the UN to halt proliferation. You can count with one hand countries opposed to the United States. They are the "Gang of Five": China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Venezeula. Of course, countries like India, for example, do not agree with all policy choices made by the United States, such as toward Iran, but New Delhi is friendly to Washington. Only the "Gang of Five" may be expected to consistently resist the agenda and actions of the United States. China is clearly the most important of these states because it is a rising great power. But even Beijing is intimidated by the United States and refrains from openly challenging U.S. power. China proclaims that it will, if necessary, resort to other mechanisms of challenging the United States, including asymmetric strategies such as targeting communication and intelligence satellites upon which the United States depends. But China may not be confident those strategies would work, and so it is likely to refrain from testing the United States directly for the foreseeable future because China's power benefits, as we shall see, from the international order U.S. primacy creates. The other states are far weaker than China. For three of the "Gang of Five" cases--Venezuela, Iran, Cuba-it is an anti-U.S. regime that is the source of the problem; the country itself is not intrinsically anti-American. Indeed, a change of regime in Caracas, Tehran or Havana could very well reorient relations. THROUGHOUT HISTORY, peace and stability have been great benefits of an era where there was a dominant power--Rome, Britain or the United States today. Scholars and statesmen have long recognized the irenic effect of power on the anarchic world of international politics. Everything we think of when we consider the current international order-free trade, a robust monetary regime, increasing respect for human rights, growing democratization--is directly linked to U.S. power. Retrenchment proponents seem to think that the current system can be maintained without the current amount of U.S. power behind it. In that they are dead wrong and need to be reminded of one of history's most significant lessons: Appalling things happen when international orders collapse. The Dark Ages followed Rome's collapse. Hitler succeeded the order established at Versailles. Without U.S. power, the liberal order created by the United States will end just as assuredly. As country and western great Rai Donner sang: "You don't know what you've got (until you lose it)." Consequently, it is important to note what those good things are. In addition to ensuring the security of the United States and its allies, American primacy within the international system causes many positive outcomes for Washington and the world. The first has been a more peaceful world. During the Cold War, U.S. leadership reduced friction among many states that were historical antagonists, most notably France and West Germany. Today, American primacy helps keep a number of complicated relationships aligned--between Greece and Turkey, Israel and Egypt, South Korea and Japan, India and Pakistan, Indonesia and Australia. This is not to say it fulfills Woodrow Wilson's vision of ending all war. Wars still occur where Washington's interests are not seriously threatened, such as in Darfur, but a Pax Americana does reduce war's likelihood, particularly war's worst form: great power wars. Second, American power gives the United States the ability to spread democracy and other elements of its ideology of liberalism. Doing so is a source of much good for the countries concerned as well as the United States because, as John Owen noted on these pages in the Spring 2006 issue, liberal democracies are more likely to align with the United States and be sympathetic to the American worldview.3 So, spreading democracy helps maintain U.S. primacy. In addition, once states are governed democratically, the likelihood of any type of conflict is significantly reduced.

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Contention 3 is Solvency
The only way to solve is to expand Lifeline and Linkup on a federal scale. CCIA, 10/07/08. (Computer & Communications Industry Association. Before the Federal Communications Commission, Petition for Rulemaking to Enable Low-Income Consumers to Access BroadbandThrough the Universal Service Lifeline and Link-Up Programs.http://74.125.47.132/search? q=cache:Nfm9QNUb9BoJ:www.ccianet.org/artmanager/uploads/1/Lifeline_BBand_Pet.pdf+lifeline+and+linkup+should+include+bro adband&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us) TP One path to increasing subscribership among low-income consumers is relatively straightforward. The FCC should provide technologically and competitively neutral support for broadband through the Lifeline and Link-Up universal service support programs. Such a ruling would direct subsidies to Americans who most need them. Targeted low-income support programs for existing services are more effective at increasing availability of broadband and low-income subscribership than a mandate for free service on some future network that has yet to be built, much less generate commercial revenues that could support service offerings at no charge. Further, transition of Lifeline and Link-Up to broadband would help ensure that these users receive access to the same quality and diversity of broadband services enjoyed by other Americans. If ensuring broadband access to low-income Americans is a national priority, one important mechanism for ensuring such access is an updated universal service program. Lifeline and Link-up can easily be expanded now Cox Communications Inc., 4/13/09. (Third-largest cable television provider in the U.S., American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009- Broadband Initiatives, BEFORE THE NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION Docket No. 090309298-9299-01. www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/comments/7B38.doc) TP Likewise, the Lifeline and Link-Up programs, targeted at low-income customers who are underserved by broadband today, easily could be expanded to provide connectivity and related equipment at reduced cost and efficiently fulfill the statutory goal of increasing access to underserved populations and stimulating broadband demand. These programs easily could be extended to include all facilities-based broadband service providers regardless of whether these providers have been designated as eligible telecommunications services providers for other Lifeline and Link-Up eligible services. Service providers are familiar with the Lifeline and Link-Up programs, and, as with the Schools and Libraries program, an administrative infrastructure is already in place, allowing for rapid distribution of funding and ensuring that enhanced Lifeline/Link-Up benefits, like current benefits, are appropriately targeted. Indeed, as the FCC noted in its recent notice of inquiry on the national broadband plan, the FCC already has asked for comment on Lifeline/Link-Up broadband pilot program and the notice for inquiry asks for comment on how the schools and libraries program can be used to advance broadband deployment. The free market isnt solving, A national policy on broadband is key Robert D. Atkinson PhD, Fall 2007. (President and Founder of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, author of multiple books.. Framing a National Broadband Policy, Commonlaw Conspectus telecommunications law Journal. http://commlaw.cua.edu//articles/v16/16.1/Atkinson.pdf) TP First, as the United States transforms into a digital society in which many aspects of everyday life are conducted online, widespread access to broadband becomes a central factor in ensuring opportunity for all those in the United States. Whereas universal access to digital music players is not a legitimate matter of public policy concern, access to key technologies such as broadband is an important concern. To the extent that some cannot afford broadband access or cannot subscribe to it, there is an equity argument that can be made for a government role to ensure widespread adoption. To date, broadband has been deployed unevenly, with lower-cost, higher-income areas receiving access first.42 Given that broadband is largely provided by private companies that seek to maximize subscribers, such deployment patterns make sense. However, this does not mean that government should not do more to spur deployment and take-up in high cost areas or by low income individuals. In fact, such market forces will continue to deprive low-income and rural areas of broadband access, without government intervention. 17

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Broadband access provides the impoverished access to a multitude of other social services. Elaine C. Kamarck, PhD 11/08. (Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Transforming the Fight Against Poverty: The Internet & Anti-Poverty Strategies) http://internetinnovation.org/library/special-reports/transforming-the-fight-against-poverty-the-internet-antipoverty-strategies/ TP Anti-poverty strategies in the first world differ in some fundamental ways from those in the developing world. In many first world countries, the anti-poverty mission has been buried in a tangle of complex bureaucracy. Simply finding the right programs can overwhelm the poor and their advocates and leave the poor under-served. In first world countries where many safety net programs already exist, a major concern of those attempting to fight poverty is the fact that due to government complexity and red tape, the people who need and are entitled to services and benefits often have no idea how or where to get them. This has led to extensive use of the Internet as a tool for helping the poor (and more often, those who help them) to navigate amongst often complex bureaucracies. For instance in the U.K. - www.direct.gov.uk - offers information on benefits, allowances and tax credits, such as qualification criteria, understanding the system, and changes that can affect benefits. It also provides links to forms and information on how to file forms. In the United States, www.usa.gov is the U.S. governments official web portal, and it offers links to information on grants, loans, tax credits and other benefits. Citizens can also go to www.GovBenefits.gov where they can fill out a 10 minute confidential questionnaire and receive a list of programs that they qualify for. And, this opens up an entirely new sector for our struggling economy. Allen L. Hammond and C. K. Prahalad, May 2004. (Foreign Policy, Selling to the Poor, No. 142, pp. 30-37, JSTOR). TP http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.umich.edu/stable/4147574?&Search=yes&term=selling&term=poor&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction %2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dselling%2Bto%2Bthe%2Bpoor%26wc %3Don&item=5&ttl=41001&returnArticleService=showArticle Yet many multinational companies already overcome such problems to serve middle-class customers in developing countries. The fundamental barriers to serving poor customers in low-income nations exist within companies and governments in rich nations, where leaders have uncritically accepted the myth that the poor have no money. In reality, low-income households collectively possess most of the buying power in many developing countries, including such emerging economies as China and India. If businesses ignore the bottom of the economic pyramid, they miss most of the market. Another myth is that the poor resist new products and services, when in truth poor consumers are rarely offered products designed for their lifestyles and circumstances, leaving them unable to interact with the global economy. Perhaps the greatest misperception of all is that selling to the poor is not profitable or, worse yet, exploitative. Selling to the world's poorest people can be very lucrative and a key source of growth for global companies, even while this interaction benefits and empowers poor consumers. The market for goods and services among the world's poor-families with an annual household income of less than $6,000-is enormous. The 18 largest emerging and transition countries include 680 million such households, with a total annual income of $1.7 trillion-roughly equal to Germany's annual gross domestic product. Brazil's poorest citizens comprise nearly 25 million households with a total annual income of $73 billion. India has 171 million poor house- holds with a combined $378 billion in income. China's poor residents account for 286 million households with a combined annual income of $691 billion. Surveys show that poor households spend most of their income on housing, food, health- care, education, finance charges, communications, and consumer goods. Multinational corporations have largely failed to tap this market, even though the rewards for doing so could be substantial.

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Broadband has the distinct potential to improve recipients quality of life through information services, political participation, and socioeconomic equality. Johannes M. Bauer, Ping Gai, Junghyun Kim, Thomas A. Muth and Steven S. Wildman, December 10, 2002. (The James H. and Mary B. Quello Center for Telecommunication Management and Law: Michigan State University Broadband: Benefits and Policy Challenges. Prepared for Merit Network, Inc. http://66.102.1.104/scholar?q=cache:jj5UDcUpWVMJ:scholar.google.com/ +Broadband:+Benefits+and+Policy+Challenges&hl=en) TP Access to broadband can provide individuals with increased access to a wide variety of services. First, with the help of broadband service, people can have improved access to e-health, online education, e-commerce, banking, and other information services, which might be difficult to deliver through slow dial-up Internet connections (Canadian National Broadband Task Force, 2001). Second, the very fact that people would have better access to information sources could enable the rural public to become better informed and more involved in the national politics and local governance (Canadian National Broadband Task Force, 2001). For example, if a community has a stable broadband system, the local government can host community forums and provide other multimedia communication services on its website. Such services can make people in the community more involved in local affairs and can enable them to express their needs more frequently. Of course, many of these benefits might be realized in more urban settings as well. Forth, the easy access to the Internet from the extension of broadband can reduce the socio-economic gap between richer and the poorer areas (Canadian National Broadband Task Force, 2001) because this gap is due in part in part to differential access to the information and communication services required to participate fully in a modern economy. Fifth, broadband can increase the number and level of public services available to citizens by putting new and existing services online. With e-government, people can eliminate much of the time and transportation costs of visiting local government offices or other institutions and service providers.

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Advantage ( ) is Global Poverty
The U.S.s soft power makes it desirable for other countries to emulate its institutions Joseph S. Nye, Jr., 1990 (director of the Center for International Affairs at Harvard Soft Power, Foreign Policy No. 80) MB These trends suggest a second, more attractive way of exercising power than traditional means. A state may achieve the outcomes it prefers in world politics because other states want to follow it or have agreed to a situation that produces such effects. In this sense, it is just as important to set the agenda and structure the situations in world politics as to get others to change in particular cases. This second aspect of power-which occurs when one country gets other countries to want what it wants-might be called co-optive or soft power in contrast with the hard or command power of ordering others to do what it wants. Parents of teenagers have long known that if they have shaped their child's beliefs and preferences, their power will be greater and more enduring than if they rely only on active control. Similarly, political leaders and philosophizers have long understood the power of attractive ideas or the ability to set the political agenda and determine the framework of debate in a way that shapes others' preferences. The ability to affect what other countries want tends to be associated with intangible power resources such as culture, ideology, and institutions. Soft co-optive power is just as important as hard command power. If a state can make its power seem legitimate in the eyes of others, it will encounter less resistance to its wishes. If its culture and ideology are attractive, others will more willingly follow. If it can establish international norms consistent with its society, it is less likely to have to change. If it can support institutions that make other states wish to channel or limit their activities in ways the dominant state prefers, it may be spared the costly exercise of coercive or hard power. In general, power is becoming less transferable, less coercive, and less tangible. Modern trends and changes in political issues are having significant effects on the nature of power and the resources that produce it. Co-optive power-getting others to want what you want-and soft power resources-cultural attraction, ideology, and international institutions-are not new. In the early postwar period, the Soviet Union profited greatly from such soft re- sources as communist ideology, the myth of inevitability, and transnational communist institutions. Various trends today are making co-optive behavior and soft power resources relatively more important. Given the changes in world politics, the use of power is becoming less coercive, at least among the major states. The current instruments of power range from diplomatic notes through economic threats to military coercion. In earlier periods, the costs of such coercion were relatively low. Force was acceptable and economies were less interdependent. Early in this century, the United States sent marines and customs agents to collect debts in some Caribbean countries; but under current conditions, the direct use of American troops against small countries like Nicaragua carries greater costs. Manipulation of interdependence under current conditions is also more costly. Economic interdependence usually carries benefits in both directions; and threats to disrupt a relationship, if carried out, can be very expensive. For example, Japan might want the United States to reduce its budget deficit, but threatening to refuse to buy American Treasury bonds would be likely to disrupt financial markets and to produce enormous costs for Japan as well as for the United States. Because the use of force has become more costly, less threatening forms of power have grown increasingly attractive. Co-optive power is the ability of a country to structure a situation so that other countries develop preferences or define their interests in ways consistent with its own. This power tends to arise from such resources as cultural and ideological attraction as well as rules and institutions of international regimes. The United States has more co-optive power than other countries. Institutions governing the international economy, such as the International Monetary Fund and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, tend to embody liberal, free-market principles that coincide in large measure with American society and ideology. Obama has revitalized the USFGs soft power Joseph Nye, Jr., 6/12/08, (Distinguished Service Professor at Harvard University and Author, Barack Obama and Soft Power, the Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-nye/barack-obama-and-soft-pow_b_106717.html) MB I have spent the past month lecturing in Oxford and traveling in Europe where Barack Obama could be elected in a landslide. I suspect that this fascination with Obama is true in many parts of the world. In fact, as I have said before, it is difficult to think of any single act that would do more to restore America's soft power than the election of Obama to the presidency. Soft power is the ability to obtain the outcomes one wants through attraction rather than using the carrots and sticks of payment or coercion. As I describe in my new book The Powers to Lead, in individuals soft power rests on the skills of emotional intelligence, vision, and communication that Obama possesses in abundance. In nations, it rests upon culture (where it is attractive to others), values (when they are applied without hypocrisy), and policies (when they are inclusive and seen as legitimate in the eyes of others.)

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Technology can help increase US soft power and solve global problems like poverty Celia Kang, 4/6/09 (Washington Post staff writer, Diplomatic Efforts Get Tech Support, Washington Post) MB Alec Ross arrives today at the State Department, armed with a new set of diplomatic tools including Facebook, text messaging and YouTube. Ross is a senior adviser on innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton -- a role created for the 37-year-old nonprofit leader, who quickly rose within the Obama campaign, helping to craft tech policy under top technology adviser Julius Genachowski. His new job will blend technology with diplomacy in an attempt to help solve some of the globe's most vexing problems on health care, poverty, human rights and ethnic conflicts. And it is emblematic of the expansive approach the administration has taken to the role of technology in advancing its domestic and global agendas. "Secretary Clinton believes technology is a powerful tool to address the priorities of the State Department, including promoting human rights and vibrant democracies, fostering development and enhancing the impact of smart power," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood. "Alec's track record of successfully using technology for development initiatives around the world made him an ideal candidate for this job." Other countries can begin implementing technological anti-poverty programs as progress in the field is made Elaine C. Karmack, November 2008 (PhD from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Transforming the Fight Against Poverty: The Internet & Anti-Poverty Strategies, Internet Innovation Alliance, http://internetinnovation.org/files/special-reports/11-1008KamarckPaper-FINAL.pdf) MB Ever since the beginning of the Internet revolution, people have spoken of the digital divide between the Internet haves and have-nots. While access to information technology is still a compelling part of any anti-poverty strategy here in the U.S. and in much of the world, decreasing information technology costs have broadened access to previously underserved populations both here and in many of the developed countries. Thus much of what we think of when we think of information technology and anti-poverty strategies involves programs that, in one way or another expand access.1

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Broadband Poverty Advantage

In the third world, the Internet is providing income, education, and healthcare to those in poverty Elaine C. Karmack, November 2008 (PhD from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Transforming the Fight Against Poverty: The Internet & Anti-Poverty Strategies, Internet Innovation Alliance, http://internetinnovation.org/files/special-reports/11-1008KamarckPaper-FINAL.pdf) MB The story is different in the developing world, where state structures for fighting poverty are often weak or, more likely, non-existent. As many a high-tech philanthropist has discovered, for most the worlds poor, access to broadband technology is fairly far down on the list of things they need. Food, sanitation, health care and basic education are far more pressing needs. Since social and educational isolation characterizes much of the worlds poor, even old communication technologies such as the radio can make a big impact on marginalized populations. Increasingly, however, the Internet is being used to connect poor people in developing countries to things they need, such as markets and health care. The non-profit or NGO world has been particularly effective at using internet based technologies to expand and enhance their anti-poverty efforts. The use of this technology has enabled these projects to solve some of the core problems in third world poverty, many of which stem from extreme isolation. A few examples follow. Many of the worlds poorest people make their living in agriculture. But they are often isolated and uneducated and have to rely on intermediaries to get their goods to market. Agronegocios in El Salvador is a virtual market online where offers and demands are posted. It gives farmers direct access to markets and allows them to bypass intermediaries (called coyotes) who charge higher rates. Farmers and their children are taught how to use the virtual market and are able to use it at a number of designated centers around the country. This opens up trade to a broader range of geographically diverse consumers.15 A similar program called Gyandoot (Messenger of Information) inthe state of Madhya Pradesh in India is a government initiated intranet system which connects rural farmers (for a small user fee) to market information, provides an online auction system, and allows them to access land records (which normally had to be done in person with a government official) and to file government applications (income/caste/domicile certificates) online at local kiosks. Initial set up costs were US$50,000, and user fees are designed to cover maintenance and administration costs. It is accompanied by an e-education system online for school-children. This project has increased computer literacy in rural areas, allowed farmers access to broader consumer markets, and cut down on inefficiencies associated with face-to-face transactions with the government.16 E-choupal is another web portal that allows farmers in India to check both futures prices around the world and local prices before going to market. The system provides access to the Internet via satellite and solar panels and is therefore able to provide information about local weather conditions, soil-testing techniques and other expert knowledge that will increase productivity. There are 3,000 Internet access points in India, serving 18,000 villages, reaching up to 1.8 million farmers. E-choupals have already reduced transaction costs and the quality of the soybeans purchased through the portal is better. As e-choupals continue expanding to other crops like wheat, the returns will be greater.17 Agriculture isnt the only economic activity where the Internet is closing the gap between producers and markets. Over the years, Internet shopping sites have sprung up that specialize in selling arts and crafts made by artisans living in remote areas and in poverty. Often these sites are run by an anti-poverty group, and they help bring the arts and crafts of remote villages to the first world. For instance, the Womens Missionary Union of the Baptist Church runs WorldCraftsVillage.com, a website featuring arts and crafts from 31 countries around the world. The project creates personal relationships with craftspeople who live in poverty and helps provide them with a steady income. The ministry ensures fair wages and non-exploitive conditions for more than 2,000 craftspeople worldwide. The artisans are paid for their work when they provide the products, and WorldCrafts markets the items in the United States. The ministry has allowed some women to escape prostitution and slavery and enabled others to receive an education and graduate from college. New churches also have been built, initiated by the WorldCrafts ministry.18 The Internet also is becoming an important tool for health workers in remote areas. Clinicians in remote hospitals often work under extreme conditions, with little access to modern medical journals, or contact with colleagues working on similar problems. Often, there is only one doctor or only one nurse practitioner for hundreds of miles and thousands of people, limiting care to what that person happens to know. One NGO, the Academy for Educational Development - Satellite, has implemented projects in Uganda and Mozambique where health professionals are provided with handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs) over which they can transmit and receive vital data through a wireless or mobile network. Four years into the project in Uganda, 175 remote health facilities serving more than 1.5 million people are able to send and receive data and medical updates.19 In many other remote and impoverished parts of the world, telemedicine, the ability to use real time Internet transmissions to discuss the medical problems of a patient with experts around the world is transforming the delivery of health services as well. Says one doctor familiar with the challenges of working in impoverished countries; For example, I have recently communicated with a visiting health professional in Cambodia who suspected a case of Henoch-Schnlein purpura (vasculitis) and sent a complete case history plus digital photographs of the lesions. The patient, living in a hill community, improved dramatically on prednisone after languishing for weeks with an undiagnosed illness. Another example of the value of the Internet was the implementation of educational web servers in Kosovo, established with satellite links only months after the conflict abated. The installation of an Internet server allowed the local physicians to gain access to literature and websites which replaced their 10 year old collection of journals.20

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Broadband Poverty Advantage

Poverty is the root cause of structural violence, which outweighs all other impacts James Gilligan, 1996 (Professor of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center for the Study of Violence, and a member of the Academic Advisory Council of the National Campaign Against Youth Violence; "Violence: Our Deadly Epidemic and its Causes", p. 191-196) The deadliest form of violence is poverty. You cannot work for one day with the violent people who fill our prisons and mental hospitals for the criminally insane without being forcible and constantly reminded of the extreme poverty and discrimination that characterizes their lives. Hearing about their lives, and about their families and friends, you are forced to recognize the truth in Gandhi's observation that the deadliest form of violence is poverty. Not a day goes by without realizing that trying to understand them and their violent behavior in purely individual terms is impossible and wrong-headed. Any theory of violence, especially a psychological theory, that evolves from the experience of men in maximum security prisons and hospitals for the criminally insane must begin with the recognition that these institutions are only microcosms. They are not where the major violence in our society takes place, and the perpetrators who fill them are far from being the main causes of most violent deaths. Any approach to a theory of violence needs to begin with a look at the structural violence in this country. Focusing merely on those relatively few men who commit what we define as murder could distract us from examining and learning from those structural causes of violent death that are far more significant from a numerical or public health, or human, standpoint. By "structural violence" I mean the increased rates of death, and disability suffered by those who occupy the bottom rungs of society, as contrasted with the relatively low death rates experienced by those who are above them. Those excess deaths (or at least a demonstrably large proportion of them) are a function of class structure; and that structure itself is a product of society's collective human choices, concerning how to distribute the collective wealth of the society. These are not acts of God. I am contrasting "structural" with "behavioral violence," by which I mean the nonnatural deaths and injuries that are caused by specific behavioral actions of individuals against individuals, such as the deaths we attribute to homicide, suicide, soldiers in warfare, capital punishment, and so on. Structural violence differs from behavior violence in at least three major respects. *The lethal effects of structural violence operate continuously, rather than sporadically, whereas murders, suicides, executions, wars, and other forms of behavior violence occur one at a time. *Structural violence operates more or less independently of individual acts; independent of individuals and groups (politicians, political parties, voters) whose decisions may nevertheless have lethal consequences for others. *Structural violence is normally invisible, because it may appear to have had other (natural or violent) causes. The finding that structural violence causes far more deaths than behavioral violence does is not limited to this country. Kohler and Alcock attempted to arrive at the number of excess deaths caused by socioeconomic inequities on a worldwide basis. Sweden was their model of the nation that had come closest to eliminating structural violence. It had the least inequity in income and living standards, and the lowest discrepancies in death rates and life expectancy; and the highest overall life expectancy of the world. When they compared the life expectancies of those living in the other socioeconomic systems against Sweden, they found that 18 million deaths a year could be attributed to the "structural violence" to which the citizens of all the other nations were being subjected. During the past decade, the discrepancies between the rich and poor nations have increased dramatically and alarmingly. The 14 to 19 million deaths a year caused by structural violence compare with about 100,000 deaths per year from armed conflict. Comparing this frequency of deaths from structural violence to the frequency of those caused by major military and political violence, such as World War II (an estimated 49 million military and civilian deaths, including those by genocide or about eight million per year, 1939-1945), the Indonesian massacre of 1965-66 (perhaps 575,000 deaths), the Vietnam war (possibly two million, 1954-1973), and even a hypothetical nuclear exchange between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. (232 million), it is clear that even war cannot begin to compare with structural violence, which continues year after year. In other words, every fifteen years, on the average, as many people die because of relative poverty as would be killed by the Nazi genocide of the Jews over a six-year period. This is, in effect, the equivalent of an ongoing, unending, and accelerating, thermonuclear war, or genocide, perpetrated on the weak and poor every year of every decade, throughout the world. Structural violence is also the main cause of behavioral violence on a socially and epidemiologically significant scale (from homicide and suicide to war and genocide). The question as to which of the two forms of violence structural or behavioral is more important, dangerous, or lethal is moot, for they are inextricably related to each other, as cause to effect.

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Broadband GII Advantage

Advantage ( ) is Global Information Infrastructure
Providing internet access to people in poverty here in America will lead to a Global Information Infrastructure. This is key to breaking down authoritarian regimes, as well as todays sovereign and arbitrary borders in place of a new stage of globalization. Linda Main, February 2001. (PhD, Professor of Information Science at San Jose State University. The Global Information Infrastructure: Empowerment or Imperialism? Third World Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 83-97. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.umich.edu/stable/pdfplus/3993347.pdf) TP However, the information technology tools of radio and television are centralised and dependent on the assignment of frequencies. Thus they are subject to government control in that governments can jam unauthorised signals. The internet on the other hand is decentralised. Anyone can build an information network of his/her own to circumvent local and government-influenced media outlets. As a result, there has been a significant shift in both the way in which information can be distributed and the speed with which it can be distributed. Goods have always moved. People have always moved. Ideas have always moved. Cultures have always changed. However, it took television 13 years and the telephone 75 years to acquire 50 million users. It took the internet five years. Thus the internet is not only a technology that affects other technologies but it is also a kind of knowledge market impervious to the efforts of states to control it (Wiilkinson, 1995). The hope has arisen that this internet-this network of networks-will ultimately evolve into a Global Information Infrastructure (GII). The vision is that the GII will enable a massive acceleration of economic and social development that will narrow the poverty gap and eliminate many of the geographic obstacles to prosperity and equality.2 Potentially the notion of 'country', currently defined as an area distinguished by its people, its geography or its culture, may even be rethought.

Boundaries create territorial entities based upon one dominant identity this destroys all other identities and renders them into bare life. Only providing a GII can break down this effect. This loss of value to life in the status quo outweighs any disad that will be read in the 1NC. Kumar Rajaram, 2006. (Professor, University of California, Los Angeles - Anderson School of Business. Oct-Dec, Dystopic Geographies of Empire Alternatives: Global, Local, Political) TP Perhaps above all it is about the topography of exploitation, about the topography of the social, and the attempt to delimit or restrict the social to a coherent boundaried entity enveloped by the state. And thus it is fundamentally about the exception being held in thrall to the norm, denoting thus contorted geographies of separation where inside and outside collapse or fold into each other. It is about those boundarying practices where disciplined bodies are contained and those that are not are placed outside of the law, in spaces of exception related to the space of the norm. There is thus a spectacle or ruse of a clearly boundaried territorial entity bounded by the state. This spectacle of order rests on and is vindicated by a refusal to consider the relation of the exception to the norm. Such boundarying practices create an aestheticized landscape of order--and not necessarily of justice. Discourses of normalization, grounded in material realities of capital, produce an image or representation of an (aestheticized) landscape of order and normality. Normal states do not actually exist: They require policing and surveillance in order to be effected as a spectacle or impression of what normality would look like. The impression or ruse of homogenous or generic sovereign normality is maintained through acts of coercive violence, which create an impression of absolute territoriality and derogate the analysis of the operation of sovereignty. The acts of coercive violence center on representation: The mapping of territorial states with orderly identities. Hosts of people are simply "off the map." (29) The spectacle of orderliness is maintained through acts of power, through dominant ideologies effecting a material manifestation of their dominance. As Lily Kong and Lisa Law note: In the construction of landscapes and meanings, dominant groups often seem able to create structural oppositions in which they conceive of themselves and their landscapes as "normal" and ordinary while subordinate groups and their landscapes are treated as "other" or extraordinary. (30) This mapping or boundarying of normal states thus rests on processes of clearing that are, like Cocky Hahn's kick, operative processes of placing beyond the margins. Hahn's kick is a kick of power relayed. Colonial power is precisely not in the hands of a decisionist sovereign: It is always undergoing a process of being infused into the state, through what I have called enabling frameworks and the aestheticized landscapes of order that they generate. Colonial power becomes evident and tangible as it is relayed by agents, like Cocky Hahn, who are materially and 24

UM Classic Sophomore Lab Broadband Aff discursively entrenched in the structures of colonial power. The structure or formation of colonial power is thus, I think, colored by its relaying onto particular bodies. While there do exist, in the contemporary colonial experience, slews of bodies collectively placed in

Broadband GII Advantage

[Continued]
zones of exception--the immigration detention camp or the contemporary prisoner-of-war camp--the role of relayers of power remains. The study of the sovereign decision to place certain identities under a collective ban is incomplete without studying how this sovereign power is relayed by guards and other agents in these camps. In short, I think it is important to understand that the creation of zones of exception, dystopic zones where visceral relations prevail, is not the endpoint of analyses of colonial power. Such zones are replete with relations of often visceral power and indeed of resistance. Contemporary economies of colonial power can thus be traced to an epistemological and ontological process of ordering that have roots in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European colonialism. I suggest that this ordering process is what marked European colonialism. It underpinned and made good the tangible product of colonialism: the occupation, exploitation, and transformation of land. Importantly, I note also that this form of colonial power does not rest in the hands of a decisionist sovereign. It becomes diffused through a given space, particularly because of the aestheticized frameworks and the imaginative geographies generated. Power is decentered, and relayed by agents. The perspective on contemporary colonialism that I am pursuing here decenters US neoimperialism, moving beyond the ostensible features of colonial power (land occupation) toward its fundamental underpinnings in ordering and spacing processes. This quest for an operative spacing (31) gives a topography of exploitation in which slews of bodies, like Ovambo women in the Cocky Hahn era, are identifiably limit concepts, the exception that guarantees and enables the boundarying of the norm. The topography of exploitation--or, as I have preferred, the dystopic geography of empire--is marked thus by bodies rendered imperceptible in spaces of exception. And yet this boundarying is ultimately ineffective: Borders lose their function as tools of separation. The dystopia that imagines and generates bodies that will not fit, bare lives to be confined to spaces of exception, folds back on itself. The border between inside and outside is not a clear line of separation but a "contortion, a Mobius strip," (32) where inside and outside collapse. Bare life, declared outside, is the zone of politics; it is the zone of action whereby the space of the norm is guaranteed. This topography of exploitation or geography of dystopia thus, I argue, has its roots in the considered distribution of a discourse of order perpetuated by colonial empire. The geography is discontinuous and fragmented; it accounts for seemingly divergent incidents of US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and the maltreatment of irregular migrants in detention camps in Malaysia. While discontinuous and fragmented, this geography makes a link or connection through the rubric or motif of boundarying and dystopia, where bodies are operatively placed beyond the margins. The process of ordering, I have argued, is premised on the naming of those bodies that do not fit and their placement in spaces of exception where the normal law is suspended. Such disciplinary fixing of bodies is also an aesthetic representation, creating at once a desirable landscape of normality and a dystopic outside populated by bare lives. There is thus an interaction between sovereign power and the diffuse Foucaultian notion of power being relayed. The relation to bare lives is one of aesthetic engagement. By that I mean such engagements are not ordered through relations of law (or economy) but by a visceral relation to a body stripped bare and invested with aesthetic representations of threat or fear (among perhaps other forms of visceral representation). It is through this representation that bodies become legitimized as recipients of a relayed violence that imprints and makes known the structure of colonial power.

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Democracy Extension
( ) Democracy has failed in the United States due to the lack of participation. Peter Phillips, 11/4/04 (Professor of sociology at Sonoma State University, Democracy Fails: Corporations Win, http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1104-27.htm ) MSL Our level of non-participation really means democracy has failed in the US. Democracy is the people making decisions about the important issues in their lives. Freedom is the ability to act on these decisions. Without an electoral choice democracy is non-existent and freedom only means the right to choose your own brand of toothpaste. Without an active independent media informing on the powerful, we lack both freedom and democracy. Broadband is key to improving the quality of democratic participation. Dutton et al 03:William H. Dutton, Sharon Eisner Gillett, Lee W. McKnight, and Malcolm Peltu, 08/03 (Hutton: Oxford Internet Institute, Gillett: MIT Program on Internet & Telecoms Convergence, McKnight: Convergence Center, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, Syracuse, Peltu: Oxford Internet Institute, Broadband Internet: The Power to Reconfigure Access, Oxford Internet Institute) LZ Coleman drew a distinction between government and democracy that reflected the distinction he had made between broadband as a delivery mechanism or mediator in relationships: Governments tend to deliver, even if not what we want, when we want it and at the quality we expect. Democracy is a relationship. And we cant have one without the other. He was sure broadband can play a crucial part in enabling the public to interact in new, more effective and closer ways with institutions of government they now see as too remote. He illustrated this potential with examples of developments in what he described as two British institutions that have been in a state of crisis and have tried to do something about it: Parliament and the BBC. He reported that Parliament has addressed its seemingly intractable problem of declining interest from the public, media, etc. by setting up a series of consultations on policy issues that have been popular with the public and politicians. And he said the BBCs development of a fresh interactive approach to sharing knowledge between local communities was a key outcome of its in-depth analysis of why interest in political coverage has dropped significantly. Coleman also observed: There is a correlation between governments who get broadband right and those with the most vigorous, creative, inventive, proactive e-government processes, such as Canada, Denmark and Sweden. In those countries you are not seeing an attempt to replicate offline services online but an approach to value-added e-government at the broadest level, in a highly thought-out way and with a significant democratising element. He suggested that an important evaluative criterion for assessing broadbands impact on society would be whether diversity increases within the next five to ten years: This means finding out whether broadband can produce different voices, not just deliver more films or music, by asking: Are there different types of films or music being produced? New sorts of communities being heard? New sorts of languages being spoken? New sorts of things being said from citizens to government, and from government to citizens? If the United States takes the lead in electronic democracy, then the rest of the world will model. Ted Becker and Christa Daryl Slaton, 2K (Professors of Political Science at Auburn University, The Future of Teledemocracy, Praeger publishers, pg. 12 ) MSL What follows are a few choice elements of what he foresaw 60 years ago. Fuller believed that democracy has potential within it [to fulfill] the satisfaction of every individuals need (Fuller 1971,9). And how could that potential be realized? His answer was that democracy must be a structurally modernized--must be mechanically implemented to give it a one-individual-to-another speed and spontaneity of reaction commensurate with the speed and scope of broadcast news [which is] now world-wide in seconds (Fuller 1971, 9). And how would that work? By what he called electrified voting. And what good would that do? For one thing, it would yield an instantaneous contour map of the workable frontier of the peoples wisdom, for purposes of legislation, administration, future exploration, and debate (Fuller 1971, 11). It would also certify spontaneous popular co-operation in the carrying out of each decision (Fuller 1971, 11). The beauty of such a system, in Fullers mind, was the overwhelming power of such a collective decision-making process. In matters of foreign policy, he saw it as an irresistible force, one that no foreign power in the world can stand up against because of a kind of mystical awareness of multimillions of individuals that they personally have taken responsibility for the course (Fuller 1971, 11-12) Fuller also believed that the United States had to take the lead in this because of its important leadership role in world democracy. Once electronic democracy was so established in America, The credit and imagination of all outside peoples of the world will be so stimulated that nothing will stop them short of attaining a line to that voice. But so to do they must join up with Democracy (Fuller 1971, 12).

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AT: People in poverty interact with the Gov

( ) Even though people in poverty directly interact with the government , they are much less likely to be politically active. Lawless, Jennifer L. and Fox, Richard L. 8/01(dept. of political science at Brown University and Prof. Of political science at Loyola Marymount, Political participation of the urban poor, Social Problems , vol. 48 no. 3 pg. 362, University of California Press) Recent U.S. census data revealed that 36.5 million Americans, 13.7% of the total United States population, live in poverty. A staggering 44.3% of female-headed families with children are poor and, among children under eighteen, 20.5% (14.5 million children) live at or below the poverty level (Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives 1998: H1298). In the last twenty years, urban poverty has increased by 27.3% (H1310). Citizens living in poverty are, perhaps, more directly affected by government policies than are members of other socioeconomic strata. Impoverished citizens' daily circumstances and well being tend to be linked to government programs in areas ranging from housing and food stamps, to childcare and health care. Despite their direct connection with government policy, citizens living in poverty are substantially less likely to vote or engage in other traditional political activities (Verba, Schlozman, and Brady 1995; see also Soss 1999). This poses a serious concern, as empirical studies consistently find that individuals best represent their own interests. Even the "secondary advocacy" of organizations and groups that represent broad public interests of citizens with few political resources often fails to substitute for direct political participation (Erikson and Wright 1986; Piven and Cloward 1989; Schlozman and Verba 1979; Verba, et al. 1993; Verba, Schlozman, and Brady 1995). Some scholars associate greater political participation from the poor, for instance,with higher levels of welfare spending (Hill and Leighley 1992; Piven and Cloward 1989). Conversely, Piven and Cloward (1997:267) attribute "two decades of relative quiescence by the poor and working class" to one of the key reasons Congress managed to pass the 1996 welfare reform legislation that imposes strict time limits and work requirements on public assistance recipients.

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AT: Representative Democracy Good

Representative democracy now is racist, sexist, and dysfunctional. Increased communication through the internet can solve. Barney, Darin, 2002 (University of Ottowa, Political Theory- the future of teledemocracy, American Political Science Review v. 96 n. 1) MSL The argument driving the book is relatively straightforward: The dawn of the third millennium has brought with it an array of "uniquely menacing dilemmas" (p. 7)-civil war, poverty, environmental degradation, Third World debt, disaffected youth, etc.-with which representative democracy, dominated by "tiny cliques of economically powerful and well-organized interests who are, by and large, sexist, racist and Social Darwinists at heart" (p. 6), is ill equipped to deal. The solution to these "threats to human viability" is teledemocracy: a "purer, future democracy" (p. 7) that makes liberal use of direct democratic instruments and new information and communication technologies, preferably on the model developed by Becker and Slaton in the course of more than two decades of experimentation. In their view, this "New Democratic Paradigm" is imminent, especially in America, the progressive center of the "one continent on this globe generating a series of impulses that contain the best way for humankind to work together, live together, grow together and govern together" (p. 8). This "wave of the future" (p. 9) is the political analog of the quantum revolution in physics (highlighting randomness, uncertainty, and unpredictability), its progress hindered only by political, economic, and media elites whose interests are wedded to the current representative system and the outmoded "Newtonian paradigm" (emphasizing reason, causality and hierarchy) upon which it is based and legitimated. The realization of teledemocracy requires a leap to "quantum politics" (p. 36), to which Becker and Slaton see their work as making a contribution.

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AT: Plan doesnt solve Participation

The use of broadband transforms representative democracy into direct democracy giving every citizen equal weight in government. Roslaniec, Dorota, 1998 (researcher, National Centre for Australian Studies, Electronic Republic... Are We Ready?, Australian broadcasting corporation, http://www.abc.net.au/ola/citizen/interdemoc/republic.htm) MSL Linear communications such as one-to-many dissemination of political information through broadcast and publishing channels supports traditional power structures. Internet network communication on the other hand offers multiple and non-hierarchical communication channels. Utilisation of such a mode of communication signals a move away from one-to-many broadcasting and may require a new political system grounded in principles of equality and interactivity. The shift towards more interactive national governments that take time to listen to people can potentially expand the potential of public influence. The most important characteristic of computer-mediated communications is how easily it lends itself to these new power paradigms. It is precisely this interactive, wide reaching and non-hierarchical set of characteristics that inspires analysts to promote network technology as the catalyst for a new paradigm of national politics and mutual determinacy. In modern democracy, it is increasingly expected that every person's judgement about the conduct of public affairs should be given equal weight with every other person's. Information technology can become a tool for the transformation of democracy from a representative system into a 'direct democracy'. Acording, direct democracy can be implemented with the use of electronic communications systems, thus enabling all citizens to have direct access to members of parliament and the issues brought before parliament. Hedi Toffler, one of the first proponents of direct democracy argues that it would empower ordinary citizens by giving them a voice. These citizens could be directly involved in autonomous decision making and by this, ensuring the broadest range of political participation. "Through the use of increasingly sophisticated two-way digital broadband telecommunications networks, members of the public are gaining a seat of their own at the table of political power". Internet solves political participation Political discussion on the internet empirically leads to more participation when barriers to internet participation are removed. Peter M. Shane, 04 (Professor of Law at Ohio State University, Introduction: The Prospects for Electronic Democracy, Democracy Online, p. xvi) LZ In Participation, Deliberative Democracy, and the Internet: Lessons from a National Forum on Commercial Vehicle Safety, J. Woody Stanley, Christopher Weare, and Juliet Musso report on an effort by the Federal Carrier Safety Administration to employ an Internet-based forum for a public discussion focused on substantive policy. Between August 2000 and June 2001, the FMCSA supplemented its traditional docket for public comment with an online forum involving private citizens, interest group representatives, and agency managers in improving commercial vehicle safety. Comparing comments in the public docket to the messages in the Internet forum yields evidence that computer-mediated communication encourages public discussion and broadens the level of participation by individuals and groups previously uninvolved in the policy-making process. At the same time, the initiative did not achieve its full promise in terms of deliberative discourse. The authors argue that [t]he potential of the Internet to improve the processes of government is lively to be realized only under conditions where a network or community exists to support its use, institutional barriers to political communication are overcome or minimized, and the legitimacy of a forum is further affirmed by the actions of agency managers. Of particular interest is their observation that agency officials failed to integrate the forum fully with existing deliberative and decision-making processes and activities in a way that would communicate to discussants the impact of their participation. People with Internet access are more likely to vote and participate in politics. Caroline J. Tolbert and Ramona S. McNeal, 06/03 (Kent State University, Unraveling the Effects of the Internet on Political Participation?, Vol. 56, No. 2, p. 175) LZ In contrast to the previous research based on single-state case studies or the 1998 midterm election, we explore whether the Internet has an impact on individual political participation over time. We find individuals with access to the Internet and online election news was significantly more likely to vote in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections. The same relationship at two points in time, despite changing Internet user populations, provides additional confidence in the findings. Internet access and use for election news also was associated with increased participation beyond voting in the 1998 and 2000 elections, overcoming concerns about over-reporting voting in survey data. Simulations indicate that individuals with Internet access were on average 12.5 percent more likely to vote, and those that viewed online political information were 7.5 percent more likely to vote, all else equal in the 2000 elections. Unlike traditional mass media, such as television and newspaper, the data suggests the mobilizing potential of the Internet during elections. 29

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AT: Plan Doesnt solve Participation

The internet reconnects users to the political process in many ways, especially for the politically disenfranchised. Pippa Norris, 2001 (McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Digital Divide, p. 96) LZ Cyber-optimists regard digital technologies as perhaps the most important development in our lifetimes that could potentially fuel this process. It is hoped that the almost limitless information available via the Internet has the potentially to allow the public to become more knowledgeable about public affairs, more articulate in expressing their views via email, online discussion lists or chat rooms, and more active in mobilizing around community affairs. As a new channel of two-way communication, the Internet can function to strengthen and enrich the connections between citizens and intermediary organizations including political parties, social movements and interest groups, and the news media, as well as with public officials and agencies of local, national, and global governance. The Internet may broaden involvement in public life by eroding some of the barriers to political participation and civid engagement, especially for many groups currently marginalized from mainstream politics, facilitating the ability of citizens to gather information about campaign issues, to mobilize community networks, to network diverse coalitions around policy problems, and to lobby elected representatives. Bulletin board systems, chat groups, listservs, email, and multi-user domains represent a new public sphere available to exchange ideas, debate issues, and mobilize opinion. The Internet could facilitate opportunities for direct democracy, like electronic voting for referenda and elections, may help promote government accountability, as well as reviving community networks and urban neighborhoods. In all these ways, the Internet offers to reconnect people to the political process and revive flagging civic energies.

Political representation favors the rich now, equalizing internet access through the plan will involve the poor in the political process. Brian S. Krueger, 2002 (associate professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island, Assessing the Potential of Internet Political Participation in the United States, American Politics Research, Vol. 30, No. 5) LZ An emerging scholarly consensus asserts that patterns of Internet political participation will merely imitate the established patterns of participatory inequality in the United States. Because those from advantaged backgrounds access the medium at higher rates, the opportunities to participate via the Internet should disproportionately extend to high-resource individuals. I argue that the focus on access has important theoretical limitations. If one accepts the future possibility of near-equal access, then explorations of the Internets participatory potential should include theoretical guidance about what types of individuals would most likely participate if equal Internet access were achieved. Drawing on diverse literature, two expectations develop; one predicts the reinforcement of existing participation patterns, and the other suggests a change in those patterns to include new types of individuals. I empirically test these competing claims, concluding that given equalized access, the Internet shows genuine potential to bring new individuals into the political process.

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Federal Government Key to Internet Democracy

Improving democracy through the Internet requires universal access, which is only possible through government action. Robert W. McChesney, 03/96 (associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, The Internet and U. S. Communication Policy-Making in Historical and Critical Perspective, Journal of Communication, Vol. 46, No. 1, also available at http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol1/issue4/mcchesney.html) LZ In this gloomy scenario, what are the prospects that the Internet and the technological revolution in communication might break down oligarchy and lead to a revitalization of democratic political culture? Proponents emphasize the attributes of the Internet that make it so special: It is relatively cheap, easy to use, difficult to prevent access to, and almost impossible to censor. Gibson (Harris, 1995, p. 49) characterizes the Internet as "a last hope for democracy as we know it." The most thoughtful arguments, and the most concerted activity, on behalf of the Internet as a means for revitalizing democracy tend to emphasize how it can empower individuals and groups presently ignored or distorted by the existing media industries. In effect, the Internet, especially the bulletin boards and discussion groups, can provide democracy's much needed public sphere that has been so corrupted by the market. Moreover, given the instantaneous and global nature of the Internet, proponents of the "Internet as public sphere" argue that this permits the creation of a global public sphere, all the more necessary in light of the global political economy. In Mexico, for example, these computer networks may well have permitted the prodemocracy forces to bypass the atrocious media system and to survive and prosper, whereas in earlier times these forces would have been crushed (Frederick, 1995). As evidence to bolster the belief that this is a viable alternative to commercial media, supporters point to a Rand Corporation memorandum indicating considerable dissatisfaction with the existence of these uncontrolled networks of communication and suggesting state surveillance or regulation to keep them in line (Simon, 1995; Wehling, 1995). Although it is true that the prospects for computer networks are encouraging for activists, I believe the following qualifications are appropriate before we can extrapolate that the Internet will provide an unambiguous boon for democracy. First, assuring universal access and computer literacy is far from a certainty, and, without it, the democratic potential of the information highway seems supremely compromised. As of 1995, only a third of the nation's population owns computers, and many of them cannot get access to the Internet (Aufderheide, 1995b). Personal computers are still not affordable for a large number of people, and computer manufacturers favor producing the big ticket PCs with heftier profit margins (Baran, 1995). Although the extent of diffusion of PCs over the next decade can only be guessed, there is little reason to believe that it will approach the level of either indoor plumbing or television, if left to the market. Significant portions of the U.S. population do not have cable television, and in poor neighborhoods up to one third of the population goes without telephone service (Aufderheide, 1995b). Hence the only way to insure universal access and computer literacy will be to enact public policy to that effect, and in this era of fiscal constraint, that might prove to be a tall order. Schools and libraries are often pointed to as the key agents that will democratize computer usage, yet these institutions are in the throes of long-term cutbacks that seem to render absurd the notion that they could undertake this mission. And without universal access and computer literacy, as BYTE magazine contributing editor Nicholas Baran (1995) emphasizes, the PC may well "become a tool for further increasing the economic and educational disparity in our society" (p. 40).

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Democracy Solves Econ

Democratic countries have better economic performance, which improves the world economy. Dani Rodrik, 12/14/97 (Professor of International Political Economy at the Kennedy School Harvard University, Democracy and Economic Performance, htp://ksghome.harvard.edu/~drodrik/demoecon.PDF) LZ As I will demonstrate in this paper, democracies perform better than authoritarian regimes in a number of respects which have received scant attention to date. I will show four results in particular: 1. Democracies yield long-run growth rates that are more predictable. 2. Democracies produce greater stability in economic performance. 3. Democracies handle adverse shocks much better. 4. Democracies pay higher wages. The first of these implies that economic life is less of a crap shoot under democracy. The second suggests that, whatever the long-run growth level of an economy, there is less instability in economic outcomes under a democratic regime than there would be under an autocracy. The third finding indicates that the presence of civil liberties and political rights improves an economys capacity to adjust to changes in the external environment. The final point suggests that democracies produce superior distributional outcomes. Taken together, these results provide a clear message: a risk-averse individual not blessed with a lot of capitalan individual, that is, like most of usis considerably better off living in a democracy.

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Democracy solves Security

As countries democratize, threats to the security of the United States diminish. Francis Fukuyama and Michael McFaul, 2007 (director of the International Development Program at Johns Hopkins and director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law at Stanford University, Should Democracy Be Promoted or Demoted? The Washington Quarterly 31.1) MSL The transformation of powerful autocracies into democracies has served U.S. national security interests. Most obviously, the end of dictatorship and the consolidation of democracy in Germany, Italy, and Japan after World War II made the United States safer. Beyond keeping imperial and autocratic leaders out of power, democratic consolidation in these countries served as the basis of U.S. military alliances in Europe and Asia. At the end of the twentieth century, regime change in the Soviet Union ended the Cold War and greatly reduced this once-menacing threat to the United States and its allies. Russia today lacks the military strength of the Soviet Red Army of 20 years ago. Russia still remains the only country in the world capable of launching a massive military attack against the American people on U.S. soil. The threat of such an attack has significantly diminished because of regime change in the Soviet Union. It is not a coincidence, however, that Russia has become more antagonistic toward the United States and the West at the same time that the current regime there has become increasingly authoritarian.

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Democracy Solves Freedom

Democracy is key to freedom for three key reasons. Larry Diamond 4/8/99 (Senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Developing Democracy Toward Consolidation Johns Hopkins University Press, pg. 3) MSL Even if we think of democracy as simply the rule of the people, as a system for choosing government through free and fair electoral competition at regular intervals, governments chosen in this manner are generally better than those that are not. They offer the best prospect for accountable, responsive, peaceful, predictable, good governance. And, as Robert Dahl congently observes, they promote freedom as no feasible alternative can. Democracy is instrumental to freedom in three ways. First, free and fair elections inherently require certain political rights of expression, organization, and opposition, and these fundamental political rights are unlikely to exist in isolation from broader civil liberties. Second, democracy maximizes the opportunitis for self-determination, for persons to live under laws of their own choosing. Third, it facilitates moral autonomy, the ability of each individual citizen to make normative choices and thus to be, at the most profound level, self-governing. Consequently, the democratic process promotes human development (the growth of personal responsibility and intelligence) while also providing the best means for people to protect and advance their shared interests.

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Democracy Solves Genocide

Democracy solves mass murder and genocide. Larry Diamond 4/8/99 (Senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Developing Democracy Toward Consolidation Johns Hopkins University Press, pg. 6) Beyond the violence between states and between or against ethnic groups within states lies a more stunning generalization: Power kills, absolute power kills absolutely. Rudolph Rummels exhaustive study of deaths from war, genocide, mass murder, and domestic violence in this, historys most murderous, century, demonstrates that every instance of mass murder by a state against its own people has happened under authortitarian rule and that the more absolutist the regime the greater the tendency toward democide (genocide and mass murder of innocent civilians). Thus, the way to virtually eliminate genocide and mass murder appears to be through restricting and checking power. This means to foster democratic freedom.

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Democracy Solves Terrorism

Global democracy prevents terrorism by establishing more open states. Jennifer L. Windsor, 03 (executive director of Freedom House, a nonpartisan organization that promotes democracy and human rights, Promoting Democratization Can Combat Terrorism, The Washington Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 3) LZ Can promoting democracy prevent renewed terrorist attacks against the United States? Although cynics may scoff, democratization has gained credence as a counterterrorism strategy in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. The underlying logic is that democratic institutions and procedures, by enabling the peaceful reconciliation of grievances and providing channels for participation in policymaking, can help to address those underlying conditions that have fueled the recent rise of Islamist extremism. The source of much of the current wave of terrorist activitythe Middle Eastis not coincidentally also overwhelmingly undemocratic, and most regimes in the region lack the legitimacy and capacity to respond to the social and economic challenges that face them. Although not without risks, and only if pursued as part of a broader strategy, democratization can help reshape the climates in which terrorism thrives. More specifically, promoting democratization in the closed societies of the Middle East can provide a set of values and ideas that offer a powerful alternative to the appeal of the kind of extremism that today has found expression in terrorist activity, often against U.S. interests

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Democracy Solves Heg

Democracy Solves US Global Leadership Thayer , 2006 (Professor of Security Studies at Missouri State, In Defense of Primacy, The National Interest, p. 32-37) AW So, spreading democracy helps maintain U.S. primacy. In addition, once states are governed democratically, the likelihood of any type of conflict is significantly reduced. This is not because democracies do not have clashing interests. Indeed they do. Rather, it is because they are more open, more transparent and more likely to want to resolve things amicably in concurrence with U.S. leadership. And so, in general, democratic states are good for their citizens as well as for advancing the interests of the United States.

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Competitiveness Extensions Competitiveness Low

US is behind in the technology sector; competitiveness is low Catherine Yang and Hiroko Tashiro, 9/6/04 (Correspondent with BusinessWeeks Washington Bureau and Correspondent with BusinessWeek in Tokyo, Behind in Broadband, US Needs New Policies to Catch Up, BusinessWeek, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_36/b3898111_mz063.htm) CN The U.S. has steadily fallen behind other nations, both in terms of the share of the population with broadband and the speed of those connections. Consider this: In 2000 the U.S. ranked third in broadband penetration among the nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development. Last year it dropped to 10th place. That's behind recognized leaders such as Japan and Korea, as well as countries like Belgium and Canada. "It's ridiculous that the U.S., of all places, is so far behind in this key measure of economic development," says Tim Johnson, publisher of London's Point Topic, which analyzes world broadband trends. At stake are more than just the bragging rights. Broadband is the foundation upon which entire new generations of technology will be built: fullmotion video, Web-based medical care, more sophisticated Internet telephoning, and online gaming. Already, companies abroad seem to be using their robust broadband markets to gain an edge on U.S. rivals. Korea's NCsoft Corp. has come out of nowhere to become a tough contender in multiplayer online games. The City of Heroes game it launched this year has become one of the most successful online games in the U.S., while competitor Electronic Arts is struggling to create a multiplayer hit. "Given its experience in Korea, NCsoft may have an edge," says analyst Joseph Laszlo of Jupiter Research. That's why the U.S. is in dire need of stronger leadership in broadband. The country is alone among developed nations in not having a comprehensive broadband plan. Both President George W. Bush and Democratic Presidential candidate John F. Kerry have pledged to tackle the issue after the election. But so far, their proposals, such as refraining from taxing consumer Web-access services, are modest.Worse, current U.S. policies have the country moving backward. Look closely at the evidence: What helped the rollout of broadband in Korea and Japan were not massive government subsidies, as some believe, but policies that allowed vigorous competition. In particular, those countries forced the incumbent phone companies to let startups use their networks at reasonable, government-set prices. Those startups, especially Hanaro in Korea and Yahoo! BB in Japan, waged fierce battles against giant rivals, driving prices down and speeds up. "Competition is the No. 1 [reason] why one country grows faster than another," says Sam Paltridge, the OECD's telecom analyst. On this score, the U.S. has blown it. But excuses never make good policy. If the U.S. is not to lose out in the global race for the next-generation Internet and the new businesses it can spawn, change is needed. The country must create vigorous competition to drive the low prices and high speeds that can usher in a prosperous broadband economy. US competitiveness is on the brink; if we dont act now, China will surpass us Robert Atkinson 7/15/09 Robert Atkinson is the founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington, DC-based technology policy think tank. Before coming to ITIF, Dr. Atkinson was Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute and Director of PPIs Technology & New Economy Project, Americas Policy Problem ITIF) M.E. http://www.itif.org/?s=staff Already, the United States lags behind other countries in innovation-based competitiveness. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), which I head, recently published a report called The Atlantic Century. It used 16 indicators to examine the innovation-based competitiveness of 40 nations, including the United States and five Asian nations (China, India, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea). We found that the United States is sixth, not firstbehind Singapore, Sweden, Luxemburg, Denmark, and South Korea. Strikingly, the ITIF found that all of the 39 other countries studied have made faster progress toward an innovation economy over the last decade than the United States has. Dead last is not good either in sports or in innovation-based competitiveness. Among Asian nations, China made the most progress, followed by Singapore (2nd), Japan (10th), India (14th), and South Korea (17th). While the United States ranked 30th in the rate of growth of corporate R&D as a share of GDP, China ranked 4th and South Korea 10th. The United States ranked 29th in growth in the number of scientific researchers as a share of total workers, while China ranked 1st, South Korea 4th, Singapore 5th, and India 10th. If these different rates of improvement continue, as they are likely to, without significant policy changes in the United States the US position will probably continue to fall and Asias will likely rise.

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Competitiveness Extension Competitiveness Low

China and Europe are surpassing the US in medicine, technology, and jobs due to broadband; these developments show that federal policy is key Larry Cohen 2008 (President of the Communications Workers of America The Economic Impact of Stimulating Broadband Nationally A Report from Connected Nation Inc.) M.E. http://www.connectednation.com/_documents/Connected_Nation_EIS_Study_Full_Report_02212008.pdf The Communications Workers of America has long been pressing for public policies that will allow all Americans to share in todays telecommunications revolution and for our nation to fully utilize the economic engine of the 21st century. Economic growth, quality jobs and the tremendous opportunity for improvement in the personal lives of all Americans depends on substantial improvements in speed, quality and most critically, the build out of true highspeed Internet networks. At the current rates of broadband speed in the United States, the promise of telemedicine, distance learning and civic participation simply isnt possible. And both developed and developing regions Europe, Korea and parts of southeast Asia, eastern Europe and more have moved far ahead of us. This economic impact study spotlights not only the positive benefits that will result from the build out of true high-speed broadband networks, but reinforces the critical need for a national broadband policy and the broadband mapping bills that Congress now is considering. Europe and Asia have surpassed the US in broadband speed and quality S. Derek Turner August 2006 (Derek is a Free Press research fellow. He holds a masters degree in public policy from the Goldman School at the University of California, Berkeley. Broadband Reality Check II: The Truth Behind Americas Digital Decline Free Press) M.E. http://www.freepress.net/files/bbrc2-final.pdf U.S. broadband prices show no real signs of dropping. According to a recent report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the reported monthly price for cable modem service held constant at $41 from 2004 to 2005.16 Recent earnings reports from the largest U.S. broadband provider, Comcast, refute the myth of a broadband price war. Over the past year, the average revenue Comcast made from each broadband customer rose to $43.78 from $43.35. Over this same period, Pew reported that the monthly price of DSL dropped from $38 to $32. However, much of this decrease is due to the DSL-lite introductory offerings that typified the market in 2005. These offerings, aimed at capturing dial-up users, offer consumers connections that are half as fast as a typical DSL connection. In fact, DSL consumers are on average getting less bandwidth per dollar than just a year before. At the speeds available in Asia and Europe, consumers can easily navigate flash-animation pages on the Web, quickly download large data files, make a clear Internet phone call, and receive high-definition quality streaming video all at the same time something virtually unheard of in U.S. markets. The US is Behind in Broadband Despite Having the Largest User Base Ryan Kim, 5/20/08 ( Author of The Tech Chronicles, part of The San Francisco Chronicle, Is the US Falling Behind in Broadband? The San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=26678) CN The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development came out with its latest figures on broadband penetration and the situation appears to be getting worse for the U.S. According to the study, the U.S. has slipped to 15th in the world at the end of last year, with a penetration rate of 23.3 percent among the OECD member nations. That's down from 12th in 2006 and 4th in 2001. The U.S. still has the largest broadband user base of the member nations with 69 million subscribers. But the country doesn't boast great speeds nor do we get good pricing for our slower speeds. According to the report, the U.S. is 14th in terms of advertised download speeds with an average speed of 8.9 megabits per second, far behind Japan which boasts average advertised speeds of 93.7 megabits per second. The U.S. is also 22nd in terms of average monthly price for broadband. We pay about $53 a month for broadband compared to the top countries which charge a little over $30 a month. "When you look at these numbers it's pretty clear the U.S. is in the middle of everything," said Haim Mendelson, a professor of electronic business at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. "Instead of being in the top five, it's always around the middle and that's mediocre."But critics say the U.S. needs to go further in encouraging broadband deployment. Free Press, a media reform organization said regulators should look at creating more competition by requiring open-access policies that force incumbents to share their lines with competitors, giving consumers more choices.

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Competitiveness Extension Broadband Competitiveness

( ) National Broadband Strategy Leads to Job Creation and Economic Growth, Which are Key to the US Competitiveness Jonathon Rintels, 4/30/09 (Executive Director for the Center for Creative Voices in Media, An Action Plan for America: Using Technology and Innovation to Address our Nations Critical Challenges, Benton Foundation http://www.benton.org/initi atives/broadband_benefits/action_plan/economic_development) CN As the University of Pennsylvania's Joseph Bordogna writes, civilization is on the brink of a new economic world order. The big winners in this increasingly fierce global reach for leadership will not be those who simply make commodities faster or cheaper than the competition, ultimately leading to a downward-spiraling competition for low wages and lower margins. Rather, the winners will be those who develop talent, techniques, and tools so advanced that reaching a dimension of innovation beyond competition is ensured.34 Increasingly, America needs to think in terms of fostering training, educational programs, and management systems that empower technology workers, build from its uniquely entrepreneurial culture, reinforce leadership in service industries with scientific discipline and data, and create unquestioned superiority in cutting-edge fields like nanotechnology, biotechnology, cognitive science, and information science and engineering. It means creating a workforce able and empowered to act on insight and experience, and an innovation system that is continually poised to deploy great ideas.35 A well-educated population is essential to retaining America's competitiveness in the global economy. The ever-increasing knowledge and skill demands of the 21st century require that secondary school preparation and requirements be better aligned with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in postsecondary education and the workforce. To promote significant and sustained economic development and job creation, and enhance America's economic and technological competitiveness versus other nations, the new Administration must take swift and bold action that will once again make the United States a world leader in advanced telecommunications infrastructure. As detailed above, on Day One of his Administration, the new President must issue Executive Orders that will result in the execution of a National Broadband Strategy to bring universal, affordable, and robust broadband to every household in America. ( ) Providing broadband to low-income communities leads to innovation in the technology sector; China proves

Iqbal Z. Quadir 7/15/09 (Founder and director of the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which promotes bottom-up entrepreneurship in developing countries. In the 1990s, Quadir founded GrameenPhone, which provides effective telephone access throughout Bangladesh. Why Asia Can Take the Lead ITIF) M.E. http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/author/Iqbal+Z.+Quadir/ First, innovations often emerge from existing technologies. Electricity, for instance, was not harnessed originally to facilitate computing or wireless communication, but it led to these transformative innovations. Likewise, Filipinos and Indians are innovating in ways to transfer money through mobile phones, which were originally invented in Western countries for other purposes. Thus, when technologiesno matter where or why they were inventedare applied to diverse contexts, they provide a foundation for previously undreamed-of permutations and combinations. Second, 1.8 billion people in Asia live on less than $2 a day. Although India is considered an IT powerhouse, more than one billion Indians lack Internet access. However, the self-interest of Asia's considerable commercial entities will compel them to engage vast low-income populations in serious commerce. That will require new products, approaches, and forms of employment and participation. Microcredit and innovative distribution schemes for solar panels, cell phones, and drip irrigation systems in rural communities are examples of ways to engage the traditionally unengaged. Third, Asia's companies know that by addressing low purchasing power, they can reach vast markets. The lure of these markets is pushing them to search for ways of achieving dramatic savings in energy and materials. Tata's affordable, fuel-efficient Nano automobile, for example, caters to low-income markets, but its impact may extend well beyond them. Admittedly, the environmental effects of the Nano remain to be seen because it will probably translate into more cars on the road and the product itself has yet to mature. However, the thinking behind the Nano and the practical experience that will result from its use could lead to innovations for global markets that increasingly must reckon with climate change. Fourth, while Asia's late industrialization implies a weakness in fundamental research, it also means that the region is less locked into old infrastructure and legacy technologies and more willing to adopt new ones. For instance, 95 percent of South Korean households have broadband Internet access, while only 60 percent of US households do. Fifth, though vast amounts of human energy and ingenuity remain dormant beneath Asia's weakly democratic or nondemocratic regimes, this is changing rapidly. Recent events in Iranwhatever their eventual outcomedemonstrate the potential for the Internet, mobile phones, and Twitter to bolster democratic pressures. As democratic forces gather steam and people become more empowered, new entrepreneurial activities and innovations will follow. These forces of innovation are self-reinforcing, their effects cumulative, and their impact exponential. Together, they can make Asia this century's global center for innovation

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Competitiveness Extension Broadband Competitiveness

( ) Broadband Expansion Key to Competitiveness

Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA), 1/15/09 (The IIA is a broad-based coalition of business and non-profit organizations that aims to ensure that every American has access to broadband Internet. IIA believes that U.S. leaders should create a comprehensive National Broadband Strategy to achieve universal broadband availability and adoption, Statement from Internet Innovation Alliance on Obama's Push To Make Broadband Key Part of Plan To Revive Economy, Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS205965+15-Jan-2009+PRN20090115) CN WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The Internet Innovation Alliance, a broad-based coalition supporting the call for a National Broadband Strategy, today released the following statement in support of President-elect Barack Obama's push to increase the availability of affordable broadband: "Investing in Broadband expansion is good for our economy and key to our future competitiveness. Investment in America's IT infrastructure will create jobs immediately and stimulate the innovation needed for future economic expansion. Additionally, a seven percent increase in broadband adoption could result in $134 billion in annual economic benefit to the American economy and over two million permanent, private sector jobs. As the President-elect has acknowledged, Broadband is key to America's future: it will fuel the new economy, help modernize the health sector through telemedicine, our education system through e-learning and our environment through telecommuting. We applaud the President-elect for his push to turn broadband into an affordable, accessible engine of economic development," said IIA Co-Chairman Bruce Mehlman. ( ) The majority of those who are wealthy enough to afford computers have already purchased broadband and the industry is slowing; innovation and new markets are key Spencer E. Ante, February 2008 (Spencer E. Ante is an associate editor for BusinessWeek. Previously, Ante was computers department editor. Ante received a bachelor's degree from Indiana University and a master's from the University of California at Berkeley. WHY U.S. TELECOM IS LOSING JUICE :Growth is sputtering because so many people already have cell phones and broadband. A shakeout ahead? Business Week,(4070), 29.) M.E. For the U.S. telecom industry, January has been bloodier than a Quentin Tarantino movie. After leading the market for most of 2007, telecom stocks have been beaten to a pulp this month, with the Standard & Poor's Telecom Services index off 10%. That's more than the Dow, the S&P 500, even the much- pilloried investment banking index. What's going on? In a nutshell, the industry's two growth engines for the last decade--wireless and broadband--are sputtering. Fact is, more than 80% of Americans now have a cell phone, and 79% of homes with a PC have broadband service. This year, according to Bank of America Securities analyst David Barden, wireless subscriber growth is expected to drop to 7%, the first year ever in single digits. Broadband subscriber growth is expected to hit 12%, down from 18% in 2007. To be sure, AT&T and Verizon Communications, the industry's two giants, reported solid fourth-quarter earnings and respectable outlooks for 2008. They may be more insulated than rivals such as Sprint Nextel and Qwest Communications. Still, with the economy expected to slow in the months ahead, the challenges with wireless and broadband will have a significant impact on the way communications companies operate and compete. Most important, with fewer new customers signing up for those services, companies must figure out how to get existing users to write bigger checks. Innovation and investment in new technologies will be more important than ever. ( ) Broadband connectivity for all is crucial to the economy and competitiveness Paolo Luis G. Montecillo 9/28/08 (NTC says specific broadband targets need to be established Business World) M.E. During a seminar on broadband wireless access in Quezon City last week, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said "[the Philippines] must establish specific broadband targets" to accelerate the deployment of the technology in remote parts of the country. "Broadband connectivity is crucial for many applications that have an important impact on development," NTC Deputy Commissioner Jorge V. Sarmiento said. "Broadband is increasingly recognized as a key development enabler, facilitating access to health and education services thus contributing to economic productivity and competitiveness," he added. However, in the Philippines today, he said broadband Internet access is available only to a "small segment" of the population. "There is a significant discrepancy not only between different regions but also between different provinces and areas within the country," he added. A recent International Telecommunications Union report showed that as of end 2007, less than 3% of the Philippines' total population had access to highspeed Internet.

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Competitiveness Extension Broadband Competitiveness

( ) Communication Infrastructure Technology Key to Economic Growth and Competitiveness Al Gore and William Clinton, 2/22/93 ( Vice President and President of the US, Technology for Americas Growth, A New Direction to Build Economic Strength, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, http://www.itsdocs.fhwa.dot.gov/JPODOCS/BRIEFING/7423.pdf) CN Technology to Create Jobs, Protect the Environment Improve Government Bold Changes Proposed to Redirect, Focus U.S. Efforts SAN JOSE, CA President Clinton said. We face new challenges, from our competitors around the world and from the people we serve here at home, that demand new solutions and creative thinking. Technology offers new opportunities for jobs, for a cleaner environment for better schools, for high-quality health care and for scores of other advances. We must move to seize these opportunities, said Vice President Gore, who the President has asked to play a leadership role in implementing these new initiatives. Technology for Americas Economic Growth recognizes that new investments in technology will help the private sector create high-wage, high-skill jobs. It offers ground-breaking proposals to: Investing in technology is investing in Americas future: a growing economy with more highskill, high-wage jobs for American workers; a cleaner environment where energy efficiency increases profits and reduces pollution; a stronger, more competitive private sector able to maintain U.S. leadership in critical world markets; an educational system where every student is challenged; and an inspired scientific and technological research community focused on ensuring not just our national security but our very quality of life. American technology must move in a new direction to build economic strength and spur economic growth. The challenge we face demands that we set and keep focused on our goals: ONG TERM ECONOMIC GROWTH THAT L CREATES JOBS AND PROTECTS THE ENVIRONMENT A GOVERNMENT THAT IS MORE PRODUCTIVE AND MORE RESPONSIVE TO THE NEEDS OF ITS CITIZENS WORLD LEADERSIIIP IN BASIC SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, AND ENGINEERING. We have the means to stimulate innovations that will bring economic growth and help us reach our goals and other important objectives. Foremost is a sound fiscal policy that reduces the federal deficit and lowers interest rates. But that is not always enough. We must also turn to: Support for a national telecommunications infrastructure and other information infrastructures critical for economic expansion; . Building Americas Economic Strength: New Initiatives The challenges we face - from our competitors abroad and from our people at home demand dramatic innovation and bold action that will not just revive our economy now but also ensure our economic growth well into the future. Building Americas economic strength through technology demands new initiatives that confront these challenges effectively, efficiently, and creatively. INVESTMENT IN A NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE and establishment of a task force working with the private sector to design a national communications policy that will ensure rapid introduction of new communication technology; Technology is the engine of economic growth. In the United States, technological advance has been responsible for as much as two-thirds of productivity growth since the Depression. Breakthroughs such as the transistor, computers, recombinant DNA and synthetic materials have created entire new industries and millions of high-paying jobs. International competitiveness depends less and less on traditional factors such as access to natural resources and cheap labor. Instead, the new growth industries are knowledge based. They depend on the continuous generation of new technological innovations and the rapid transformation of these innovations into commercial products the world wants to buy. That requires a talented and adaptive work force capable of using the latest technologies and reaching ever-higher levels of productivity. Modern production systems also make much more efficient use of energy and materials. Advances in technology can lead to enormous reductions in the environmental emissions associated with automobiles, buildings, and factories. And because pollution always signals inefficiencies and, because wasteful energy costs raise the price of doing business, these technology advances can also lead to increased profits. We can promote technology as a catalyst for economic growth by: support for critical transportation and communication infrastructures. New Options offered by Information Technology in Education and Training - Computers can create an unprecedented opportunity for learning complex ideas, creating an environment that can closely approximate real work environments or experimental apparatus. - Interconnected systems can help students work together as parts of a team even if the members of the team are separated geographically. - Advanced systems permit instruction tailored to the learning needs of individuals. This is particularly important for retraining adults that reenter a training environment with a great variety of learning needs and learning abilities. And it is important in ensuring that minorities, women, people with disabilities, and others that may be disadvantaged by traditional approaches to instruction. - Communication technologies can bring a rich education and training environment to people isolated because they live in remote areas or because of the demands of work and family responsibilities. B. Create a Task Force on Information Infrastructure. Government telecommunication and information policy has not kept pace with new developments in telecommunications and computer technology. As a result, government regulations have tended to inhibit competition and delay deployment of new technology. For instance, without a consistent, stable regulatory environment, the private sector will hesitate to make the investments necessary to build the high-speed national telecommunications network that this country needs to compete successfully in the 21st Century.

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Competitiveness Extension Competitiveness Hege

( ) Superior internet technology is key to US hegemony John Markoff, 8/30/08 (Internet Traffic Begins to Bypass the U.S. The New York Times, Late Edition Final) M.E. Engineers who help run the Internet said that it would have been impossible for the United States to maintain its hegemony over the long run because of the very nature of the Internet; it has no central point of control. And now, the balance of power is shifting. Data is increasingly flowing around the United States, which may have intelligence -- and conceivably military -- consequences. American intelligence officials have warned about this shift. ''Because of the nature of global telecommunications, we are playing with a tremendous home-field advantage, and we need to exploit that edge,'' Michael V. Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2006. ''We also need to protect that edge, and we need to protect those who provide it to us.'' Indeed, Internet industry executives and government officials have acknowledged that Internet traffic passing through the switching equipment of companies based in the United States has proved a distinct advantage for American intelligence agencies. ( ) Technological competitiveness is key to US leadership and hege

Anne-Marie Slaughter, July 2008 (University Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. Strategic Leadership: Framework for a 21st Century National Security Strategy Center for a New American Security) M.E. http://www.cnas.org/files/documents/publications/SlaughterDaalderJentleson_StrategicLeadership_July08.pdf The United States cannot lead abroad, strategically or otherwise, without rebuilding our strength at home and reinvigorating our people. Its global role must rest on the solid domestic foundations of a strong economy and an educated, healthy, and innovative society. The massive triple deficits run up in U.S. fiscal, trade, and international financial accounts are a major source of self-inflicted economic vulnerability. Our economic edge is in danger of being eroded. We can maintain it, however, if we recommit to and adapt the policies that have supported American technological innovation so well in the past. We must once again robustly invest in science and technology, education, research and development, and public infrastructure. Solving the national healthcare crisis is also critical, both because of the drag that it puts on the countrys international economic competitiveness and as a matter of social justice. National energy and environmental policies, including concerted efforts to develop green technologies, are a particular area of unfulfilled yet enormous potential. The Manhattan and Apollo projects demonstrated the United States ability to meet major scientific-technological challenges. With environmental protection increasingly seen as a growth industry, the private sector can and should be further incentivized. NGOs with their impressive capacity to mobilize and be policy entrepreneurs in their own right also provide networks for collaboration and innovation with both economic and environmental benefits. Washington must work to ensure that prosperity is broadly shared by all Americans. The eroding consensus for free trade among Americans is less a plea for protectionism than a call for more concerted efforts for greater equity in the benefits that open economies bring. For so many Americans, jobs are a matter of dignity, not just income. Yet at a time when the integration of China and India into the world economy is expanding the global labor force by 70 percent and when technological change is exposing white-collar occupations to low-wage foreign competition for the first time, already-thin safety nets have frayed still further. The task at hand is not to try to wall off our economy; it is to rebuild the foundations of our long-term competitiveness in ways that create a new generation of opportunity. Expanded and improved job retraining programs, along with enhanced unemployment programs and wage insurance, are key parts of a 20 domestic strategy to better promote adjustment and competitiveness in ways consistent with a fair, open and free global trading system. But we will have to do more than thatstarting by building an innovative edge in the kinds of technologies that are as far ahead of cars and high-carbon products today as steel and combustion engines were ahead of iron and buggies at the outset of the industrial revolution. Americans are rightly concerned about problems like the breach of public faith demonstrated in the inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina, the corrosiveness of American public discourse, diminishing social mobility, and rising economic inequality. Because the appeal of the American domestic model has long been an important source of U.S. global power and influence, addressing these problems is both a domestic and an international imperative. A new wave of progressive reforms must also extend to our political system: to ensure the integrity of our electoral system and to bolster national security by preserving the sanctity of American civil liberties and democratic practices. While all Americans respond when leaders provide a compelling vision, the next president must speak to the countrys youth in particular. The United States must foster a new global generation. Our young people are our greatest asset; with the proper education, values, and motivation, they can engage the world in ways that will advance their own lives and careers and strengthen the nations security, economy, and global role.

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Competitiveness Extension Competitiveness Hege

( ) Being competitive in internet technology is key to US hegemony Thomas Donnelly September 2K (Thomas Donnelly is a defense and security policy analyst. Mr. Donnelly also served as a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He is a former editor of Armed Forces Journal, Army Times, and Defense News. REBUILDING AMERICAS DEFENSES: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century Research Paper by the Project for a New American Century) M.E. http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf If outer space represents an emerging medium of warfare, then cyberspace, and in particular the Internet hold similar promise and threat. And as with space, access to and use of cyberspace and the Internet are emerging elements in global commerce, politics and power. Any nation wishing to assert itself globally must take account of this other new global commons. The Internet is also playing an increasingly important role in warfare and human political conflict. From the early use of the Internet by Zapatista insurgents in Mexico to the war in Kosovo, communication by computer has added a new dimension to warfare. Moreover, the use of the Internet to spread computer viruses reveals how easy it can be to disrupt the normal functioning of commercial and even military computer networks. Any nation which cannot assure the free and secure access of its citizens to these systems will sacrifice an element of its sovereignty and its power. Although many concepts of cyber-war have elements of science fiction about them, and the role of the Defense Department in establishing control, or even what security on the Internet means, requires a consideration of a host of legal, moral and political issues, there nonetheless will remain an imperative to be able to deny America and its allies' enemies the ability to disrupt or paralyze either the military's or the commercial sector's computer networks. Conversely, an offensive capability could offer America's military and political leaders an invaluable tool in disabling an adversary in a decisive manner. Taken together, the prospects for space war or cyberspace war represent the truly revolutionary potential inherent in the notion of military transformation. These future forms of warfare are technologically immature, to be sure. But, it is also clear that for the U.S. armed forces to remain preeminent and avoid an Achilles Heel in the exercise of its power they must be sure that these potential future forms of warfare favor America just as todays air, land and sea warfare reflect United States military dominance. ( ) Competitiveness is key to maintain U.S. heg and prevent a variety of threats Anne-Marie Slaughter, July 2008 (University Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. Strategic Leadership: Framework for a 21st Century National Security Strategy Center for a New American Security) M.E. http://www.cnas.org/files/documents/publications/SlaughterDaalderJentleson_StrategicLeadership_July08.pdf The extent of the worlds interconnectedness has been obvious in the economic realm for some time. But the same forces that make the flow of labor, capital, and goods across borders possible also enable the flow of ideas and information, germs and viruses, weapons and terrorists, pollution and greenhouse gases, and a whole lot more. This growing degree of globalization brings both opportunities and risks for America, as it does for all countries. Some effects are positive. The opening of closed societies to new ideas and the transmission of technology have the potential to bring education and basic healthcare to some of the worlds poorest societies. Growing interconnectedness has boosted economic growth, lifted hundreds of millions around the world out of grinding poverty and reduced child mortality rates. Globalization has opened up access to information and ideas, expanding peoples horizons and empowering the oppressed to seek to advance democracy and respect for human rights. It has also created global grassroots networks mobilizing millions from all over the world in support This is not a document of domination, denial, or disengagement, but rather a program of action meant to marshal the best practices and ideas of the progressive tradition in American foreign policy and adapt them to a rapidly changing world. Strategic Leadership: Framework for a 21st Century National Security Strategy of common causes such as the banning of landmines, stemming the scourge of HIV/AIDS, and cleaning up the environment. All of these positive developments contribute to American wellbeing and prosperity. Yet, the worlds increasing connectedness has also created new vulnerabilities for Americans that have long been felt by citizens in many poorer countries. The United States no longer confronts threats just in faraway places such as Africa, Asia, or the Middle East, but also on its own soil. The threat of terrorism, as the September 11 attacks underscored with deadly effect, is one obvious manifestation of the United States newfound vulnerability. The U.S. economy must adjust to rapid and sweeping economic changes and a new hypercompetitive global marketplace in which no country or industry is immune to challenges from foreign competitors. Virulent diseases can emerge almost anywhere on earth and rapidly reach Americas heartland, as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 did in Canada. Catastrophic changes in climate could threaten U.S. agriculture, coastal cities, and the economy and society as a whole. Computer hackers could shut down electricity supplies, disable floodgates in hydroelectric dams, disrupt financial markets, cripple oil refineries, or cause major damage to computer networks. This array of transnational opportunities, threats, and challenges makes this new global era profoundly different from the past, in ways that are especially unsettling to many Americans.

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Hegemony Decline War

( ) Decline of US heg will result in bloodshed and violence; empirical examples prove

Robert T. McLean 5/14//07 (The Case for Hegemony Center For Security Policy) M.E. http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/p13839.xml Indeed, any future deterioration of American hegemony would be accompanied by catastrophic consequences. History reveals that tragic violence inevitably follows newly created power vacuums. The decline of the Ottoman Empire brought on a massacre of the Armenians, and the end of British rule in India resulted in massive devastation in South Asia. As was persuasively illustrated in Niall Ferguson's War of the World, the weakening and contraction of Western empires were indispensable contributors to the unprecedented bloodshed of the 20th century. Make no mistake, history will repeat itself - beginning in Iraq - should the United States loose its nerve and retract from its responsibilities as the world's lone superpower. While it has become fashionable to proclaim that the 21st Century will emerge as the "Asian Century," the United States - and its many allies - should do everything in their powers to insure that we are indeed at the dawn of a new American century.

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Federal Action Key

The Federal Government is key; states lack the resources to implement broadband on a larger scale Robert D. Atkinson, Daniel Castro and Stephen J. Ezell, January 2009 (Robert Atkinson is the founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington, DC-based technology policy think tank The Digital Road to Recovery: A Stimulus Plan to Create Jobs, Boost Productivity and Revitalize America ITIF Research Paper) M.E. http://www.itif.org/files/roadtorecovery.pdf Others may ask, Why not let the states or the private sector be solely responsible for IT infrastructure investments? Building the U.S. interstate highway system required the federal governments involvement, and the IT infrastructure projects discussed here broadband networks, health IT, and the smart power gridare national networks that states cannot support on their own without federal support. Indeed, we have already seen the failure of states to effectively spur national networks in health care: the Bush-era proposal of using a bottom-up strategy to interlink regional health information organizations (RHIOs) has failed to produce sustainable progress towards a national health information network. Likewise, while state efforts to promote broadband have helped, states lack the resources in the form of grants and tax incentives to get the job done on the scale required.

Only the federal government can encourage enough investment to gain network externalities from broadband Robert D. Atkinson, Daniel Castro and Stephen J. Ezell, January 2009 (Robert Atkinson is the founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington, DC-based technology policy think tank The Digital Road to Recovery: A Stimulus Plan to Create Jobs, Boost Productivity and Revitalize America ITIF Research Paper) M.E. http://www.itif.org/files/roadtorecovery.pdf The federal government cannot rely on the private sector acting alone to develop broadband networks, health IT, and the smart power grid without incentives for these IT infrastructure investments. The private sector will tend to underinvest in these networks because it is unable to capture all of the benefits (externalities) of its investments and because of other well documented market failures. In the case of health IT, for example, doctors and hospitals incur much of the cost, but patients and insurers get much of the benefit. 11 In broadband, significant network externalities exist that consumers of broadband by definition do not receive.2 Moreover, building out some parts of the broadband network, particularly to high-cost areas, is not economical absent some incentives. And the same is true with the smart grid, where savings from energy efficiency and reduced pollution benefit everyone, not just certain customers. The United States should take a page from other nations like Japan, South Korea, and Sweden, which have successfully used incentives, including tax incentives, to spur the private sector to invest more in digital infrastructures. Only the federal government is in a position to achieve the scale of investment needed for these projects to be a true economic multiplier for the United States.

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AT: Private Sector Solves

( ) The market wont ensure equal access; broadband is not a typical consumer product At the core of their arguments against a national broadband policy is the belief that broadband is like other products and services that the market does a perfectly adequate job of producing and allocating. For them, broadband is no different than other consumer technologies like MP3 players and DVD players. Because broadband is seen as essentially a consumer technology, its best to leave it alone, reduce government barriers, and let the market allocate it. But high-speed broadband is different in two important ways from MP3 and DVD players and other consumer devices. First, as we transition to a digital society where many aspects of life will be conducted online, widespread access to broadband is becoming a central factor in ensuring opportunity for all Americans. Whether not all Americans have a digital music or media player is not a legitimate matter of public policy concern. Whether or not all Americans have access to a key enabling technology like broadband is. To the extent that some Americans cannot afford broadband access or cannot subscribe to it, there is an equity argument that can be made for a government role to ensure widespread adoption. To date, broadband has been deployed unevenly, with lower cost, higher income areas getting it first. Given that broadband is largely provided by private companies with limited capital budgets, such deployment patterns make sense. However, this does not mean that government should not do more to spur deployment and take-up in high-cost areas or by low-income individuals. Second, and just as important, there are significant positive externalities from broadband adoption. The notion of externalities externalities is quite simple: it is a divergence between private and social cost (or benefit). Externalities occur when one market participants action affects others without compensation being paid or received.10 In a competitive equilibrium with the presence of costs (or benefits) that do not accrue to the individual economic actor, competitive markets alone will not achieve an optimal outcome (what economists call Pareto optimality). The classic case of an externality is pollution: a companys smoke imposes costs on its neighbors that are not paid for. In the absence of regulation or some other mechanism of forcing the company to bear the costs imposed on the neighbors, overall social welfare will be less. Externalities can also be positive. For example, when a company conducts scientific research some of the benefits usually accrue to others. Because the benefits of research spill over, most governments have instituted some kind of tax incentive that rewards companies for doing more R&D so that they will do more of it.11 The presence of positive externalities often means that absent some public intervention that there will be less of an activity or product than is economically optimal. ( ) Broadband is not a normal consumer product; it has network externalities

Robert Atkinson June 2007 (Robert Atkinson is the founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington, DC-based technology policy think tank. Before coming to ITIF, Dr. Atkinson was Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute and Director of PPIs Technology & New Economy Project The Case for National Broadband Policy The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation) http://www.itif.org/files/CaseForNationalBroadbandPolicy.pdf Broadband exhibits several kinds of positive externalities, but perhaps the most important are network externalities. Network externalities are the effects on a user of a product or service of others using the same or compatible products or services. Positive network externalities exist if the benefits are an increasing function of the number of other users. In this case a good becomes more valuable to individual consumers as others also purchase that good. The classic example is telephone service which becomes more valuable to a user if more people are connected. Indeed, telephone network externalities have long been recognized and have been a major rationale behind universal service policies. But broadband externalities are likely to be even more significant, in part because broadband will enable new services to emerge that will benefit broadband users. There are two kinds of network externalities from broadband, direct and indirect. Direct externalities relate to subscribership. Just as the fax system became more valuable when more people had faxes, broadband becomes more valuable when more people have broadband. Moreover, the more people have broadband, the more likely others are to subscribe. This is in part because the decision to purchase broadband is dependent in part of sufficient knowledge about it. Unlike a service like haircuts or a product like TVs that most people are familiar with and can accurately value, fewer people are familiar with broadband and cannot always value their benefits. Empirical evidence suggests that this is a factor that affects subscribership. Goolsbee and Klenow found that people are more likely to buy their first computer if they live in areas where a high proportion of households own computers or if a high fraction of their friends and family own computers even controlling for other factors affecting computer ownership. data-intensive applications would make high-speed broadband more valuable, while more high-speed broadband subscribers would make data-intensive applications more commercially viable. Indeed, more high-speed broadband would spur the development of a whole host of new applications that are not viable now in a low speed world. While some of these we can imagine (e.g., Internet-based TV, video telephony and applications like telemedicine) others surely will burst onto the scene as the next new things.

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States Perm Solvency

The perm solves best; the federal government and the states can work together to construct a national broadband solution Connected Nation 2/21/08 (The Economic Impact of Stimulating Broadband Nationally A Report from Connected Nation Inc.) M.E. http://www.connectednation.com/_documents/Connected_Nation_EIS_Study_Full_Report_02212008.pdf As federal policy attempts to provide solutions to the need for a nationwide ubiquitous broadband, the data from the Kentucky experience and the assessment of Connected Nation analysts conclude that the most constructive national solution for broadband expansion is to enable state governments to implement demand creating and supply enhancing programming. Given the cultural, structural, regulatory and topographical variables that influence how broadband can expand, a state is the largest subsystem that can be identified in which to enact effective and cost efficient solutions. Supporting this assumption is once again the data from the ConnectKentucky program. From 2005 to 2007, the time frame under consideration for this study, more than $740 million in private capital was invested in Kentucky telecommunications infrastructure. The public investment in the program implementation and research that encouraged private telecommunications investment was approximately $7 million dollars. The household availability of broadband in Kentucky went from 60% to 95% during that time. Based on Connected Nations experience in Kentucky and after launching similar initiatives in other states, Connected Nation advocates for passage and enactment of legislation that includes: -Recognition of the critical role of public-private partnerships in broadband expansion -Federal enabling of state/local response to broadband deployment and demand aggregation -Recognition of the indispensable role non-profits play in program implementation Perm solves best; the federal government can provide the initial support and the private sector can take over later Robert D. Atkinson, Daniel Castro and Stephen J. Ezell, January 2009 (Robert Atkinson is the founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington, DC-based technology policy think tank The Digital Road to Recovery: A Stimulus Plan to Create Jobs, Boost Productivity and Revitalize America ITIF Research Paper) M.E. http://www.itif.org/files/roadtorecovery.pdf Only the federal government is in a position to achieve the scale of investment needed for these projects to be a true economic multiplier for the United States. This is not to say that federal investment is needed on a continuous basis. Far from it. Nevertheless, we believe that an immediate short-term stimulus can drive networks for broadband, health IT, and the smart grid to the tipping point, after which investment can be almost exclusively provided by the private sector without strong incentives.

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AT: Infrastructure solves

(__) Broadband infrastructure is sufficient in the status quo. Lack of government low-income broadband services are the problem CCIA, 10/07/08. (Computer & Communications Industry Association. Before the Federal Communications Commission, Petition for Rulemaking to Enable Low-Income Consumers to Access BroadbandThrough the Universal Service Lifeline and Link-Up Programs.http://74.125.47.132/search? q=cache:Nfm9QNUb9BoJ:www.ccianet.org/artmanager/uploads/1/Lifeline_BBand_Pet.pdf+lifeline+and+linkup+should+include+bro adband&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us) TP The low-income broadband gap is not just a buildout issue. Network providers, including wireless providers have invested billions of dollars to deploy broadband facilities, and the number of consumers who have broadband available to them has grown steadily.4Of course, the new 3G services do not yet fully substitute for a wireline connection to a PC or a wifi hotspot for a laptop. But they do provide an option where other broadband connections are not available. The Pew Report confirms that despite impressive growth in subscriptions, 45 percent of American adults, and 62 percent of American adults in rural communities, still live in homes without broadband connections. Part of the problem here is a significant gap in the Commissions current lowincome universal service programs. Consistent with Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, the FCCs lowincome universal service programs were designed to provide Americas lower-income consumers with affordable connectivity to telecommunications and advanced services. Yet, in 2008, these programs still do not enable qualifying low-income consumers to obtain discounted broadband Internet access services. Such access would provide extensive benefits to lowincome Americans, improving their ability to compete in the modern economy. It would also, however, benefit the nation as a whole, boosting economic welfare, improving health care and education, and creating energy-saving efficiencies in other aspects of everyday life. (__) Lack of money, not infrastructure, is the root cause of lack of broadband access. Cox Communications Inc., 04/13/09. (Third-largest cable television provider in the U.S., American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009- Broadband Initiatives, BEFORE THE NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION Docket No. 090309298-9299-01. www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/comments/7B38.doc) TP The Recovery Act created the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (the BTOP) in part to provide broadband access and equipment to schools and libraries and to stimulate the demand for broadband. The NTIA, the RUS, and the Federal Communications Commission (the FCC) (collectively, the Administering Agencies) should not lose sight of the importance of programs to stimulate broadband demand and broadband adoption to the success of the BTOP. Without such programs, no matter how much investment is made in infrastructure, disadvantaged constituencies e.g., low-income customers, schools and libraries in economically depressed areas, and rural healthcare providers will not be able to afford the computers and training required to connect to new infrastructure and to benefit from the connection. Indeed, dial-up Internet users are more than twice as likely to cite cost rather than lack of availability as preventing them from subscribing to broadband.1 On the other hand, effective support of broadband adoption would remove the barriers to entry that could prevent an enhanced communications backbone from serving those most in need of the information and services that broadband internet access can provide. (__)The high price of broadband in the status quo is the chief determinate in deterring access. Joseph S. Enoch, 11/30/2006. (Writer for Consumer Affairs.com, Wireless Broadband Still Expensive, Service Still Spotty, ConsumerAffairs.com) AW American consumers looking for broadband wireless service basically have three choices: Verizon, Sprint and Cingular. All three are fast, at least sometimes, all three are expensive and all three advertise unlimited downloads. All three services cost roughly the same: Cingular and Verizon are $60 per month with a qualifying voice plan or $80 per month alone. Sprint now offers its service for about $60 regardless of whether you have a voice plan. Although Sprint did the best in our tests, none of these services is truly nationwide so it's best to perform thorough testing before committing to one plan. Because the service is so expensive, the companies will usually let you demo the product before committing. It's important to take advantage of that demo. Be sure to check each company's wireless coverage map -- Verizon, Cingular and Sprint -- to make sure they can deliver a signal in the spots you're most likely to be. After all, at $80 a month, it's essential you get as much out of the service as possible. For most consumers, the current generation of wireless broadband is too expensive, too unreliable and too slow to be practical. There are enough Wi-Fi hotspots to satisfy most occasional travelers and wireless broadband is not really a suitable substitute for a
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UM Classic Sophomore Lab Broadband Aff hard-wired DSL or cable connection. "At about $90 a month, it's far from cheap but we found it to work so poorly it would be overpriced at any price," Hood fumed.

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