Now it Begins: The Feeble Cases for Holding Tennessee Back

Ain't History Grand? 

It's good to take an historical view of events, especially if there are insights to be learned. 

Take, for example this recent article in the Tennessean: http://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/contributors/2016/01/11/overturn-fcc-rules-municipal-broadband-networks/78526024/

Here we have bi-partisan agreement that the legislature should keep in place the Tennessee law that restricts municipal electric utilities with fiber optic broadband internet capacity from offering that service beyond its own electric customers, residential or business.

Two legislators, Senator Mark Green and Representative G.A. Hardaway think alike on this. They argue that there's plenty of competition for consumers to choose from, so it's not nice for the government to try to get into the field, even though seven cities have, and they're thriving beyond expectations. One of those cities is Clarksville, in Senator Green's district.

Here's what makes printed history so valuable. Two years before penning this article, the Senator was speaking out of the other side of his mouth, (http://clarksvillenow.com/local/sen-green-let-cde-link-industrial-park-to-broadband/), introducing a bill to just tweak the law just a bit, so Clarksville could bring its services to an adjacent industrial park. Wouldn't that seem a bit disingenuous?

Well, look at it this way. If the text of the law allowed all municipal electric utilities to expand, it would open the door to competition everywhere. Who wants that? Apparently, not Senator Green. But to tweak the law just a bit, for his utility, well, that's just fine.

But that's disingenuous, because he's a senator whose impact is on all the state, not just his district. SO, what makes it OK for him to serve just his own when his actions harm the state?

There's proof that broadband creates prosperity and lack of broadband threatens it! The seven cities with high speed broadband have prospered beyond their wildest dreams because they have broadband. From Bristol in the east to tiny Pulaski on the west, the cities have seen their home grown businesses grow and expand. They've welcomed new businesses that brought hundreds, in some cases thousands of new jobs. The cities are improving their public education infrastructure, making their 'today' students 'tomorrows capable workforce. All while the communities surrounding them have not.

Sadly, the Senator thinks it's OK to keep a restrictive law, as long as he can amend it when needed for his own district.

It's easy to understand why Representative G.A. Hardaway would be against it. The one utility that started a broadband effort in his district failed. That's sad. But, seven others took up the challenge and won. Any betting person would look at those odds and move ahead full speed. In baseball a guy batting .300 or more is a star! And here, in Tennessee, the success rate for municipal electric utilities operating high speed broadband internet services is over 84%! Imagine how competitive the state can be if companies looking for new sites compared Tennessee, with universal broadband, to the other eighteen nearby states that are restricting their own possibilities.

Come on, people. Wake up, smell the coffee, and send these guys packing!

Tell your friends, neighbors, county commissioners to support SB1134 and HB1303 to permit municpal electric utilities to expand.

Write, call and email your state legislators. Go to

http://4adynamictn.blogspot.com/2015/12/marching-orders.html to find your lawmakers contact info: