Wow, ok
... you're an angry bitter person huh? Truth is I'm bored with this discussion and know you're not going to acknowledge ANY point that differs from your own. I DO agree with you on the need for government to stay out of markets where there is natural competition (as already stated, point conceded). You really need to realize that not every market falls into your "Competition will appear when it's ready to" model. And apparently you didn't read the reference
... the gov't didn't actually hand the companies $200 Billion, they de-regulated them so that they could increase costs across the board and re-invest the increased profits into expansion of fibre uniformly across the US , Urban and Rural, which never happened. Oh
... and your great point about the electric grid spreading
... guess what??? it was government subsidized and is to this day (http://www.govpro.com/News/Article/67939/). As for the lightbulb, Duh! hey, clothing spread too so did the great idea of "food". You are mastering the comparison of apples and oranges with that one. You cannot compare a 50 cent lightbulb that is, in this age, a requirement for life (OK, not really required for life to continue, but required for a "normal" modern human existence) with hundreds or thousands of miles of fibre optic cable and expect anyone to take you seriously.
I live in a place called reality. Further, I live in one of the largest concentrations of amish in the US ... tell ya what, you come out and hook jebediah's abacus to the PinkUnicorn.camish and maybe there'll be enough people to drive the market that exists in your mind. Meanwhile I'll accept the fact that until the government intervenes I can call the telecos daily forever with the same result. I've inquired about actually paying for the cable run myself with the same result ... "Sorry, but we're not expanding conectivity in your area".
In my world all politicians are now or soon will be scumbags but some are actually scummier and scarier than others. In my world, the last 8 years has been an even larger nightmare in government than before and ANYTHING is better than what's in office now (Speaking of human rights violations) ... if only marginally. In my world, religion is a friggin joke that weak people use as a scapegoat. That doesn't prevent the weak minded sheep from actually supporting Sarah Palin and thinking she'd be ready to be president.
I've heard it said (Can't find the source right now) that GWBush has been the worst president for violating and removing individual freedoms, something I believe easily. As much as the two party system is a failure, IMHO, the past few years has shown clearly that the government can and will directly impact your life beyond taking your money. That said, I will vote for Obama ... I'm not duped, I'm not deluded, I'm fully aware of what he is and that at the basest point, he's a politician. I'm not naive enough to think that both candidates are identical (I do have a choice even though it's only a a lesser of two evils choice) and I'm not naive enough to think that anyone other than McSame or Obama will possibly garner enough votes to win ... therefore I will vote Obama to get Republican's out of power. I can dream of the time when the two party system is abolished and people have to run no personal merits, but that's not gonna happen in the next 25 days. You can live in a utopian dream world, refusing to participate in reality. I hope some of the dream comes true but I doubt it will in my lifetime. I'll do the best I can with what's available and change things if I can determine how to do so.
Oh, and I'm not wholly opposed to a single entity providing a service ... assuming they actually do provide the service ... which they do not in my case. I'm just amazed at your refusal to acknowledge that there are some places where a completely free market will NOT serve the best interests of the people/customers. Business is about money ... there will ALWAYS be markets where the expense can't be justified and services will only be provided by forcing the point. An old farmer (paying the bills) does not want or need Broadband ... but his son could quite possibly revolutionize the family business if exposed to technology. If the son does not have access to Broadband currently he'll possibly grow up ignorant of it and the demand will never exist as this could be a self perpetuating cycle, after all you can't miss something you've never had. (This closely resembles my situation ... I moved to a rural area from a city. Everyone around me are older farmers (only some are amish) and they are not interested in broadband, let alone computers or cell phones. Their children could benefit greatly from better exposure to technology but as long as the cycle is children being raised in a non-tech house, they will not learn about tech and therefore probably not demand it.)
