ABSTRACT
The policies surrounding the Internet in the United States are determined by what the wealthiest and most powerful players wish to have happen. This is producing a digital world that is inimical to democracy and to the revolutionary potential of these technologies. The author argues for radical policies: the nationalization of the ISP/cellphone industry and its conversion to a public utility; the nationalization of huge Internet monopolies that are impervious to antitrust; the adoption of a massive public subsidy to pay for independent, competitive, uncensored, noncommercial news media. The author points out that these proposals have a basis in conservative theory as well as radical and liberal democratic theory. It is imperative to broaden the debate and draw the citizenry into it.
