Conservative Farmers and Small Town Voters should demand government continue to leave rural high speed internet access to the private sector.

Just like I said in the title, the private sector should continue to do what it has been doing about rural access (43rd out of 50 states), and get government out of expanding internet use to farmers and small town businesses. As odd as that sounds, that's just what rural residents are doing.

According to conservative Tom Still of the Wisconsin Technology Council, a group that really wants to deregulate the tech industry more than anything else, wrote this:

WSJ: While the Obama administration has set a broad national goal of universal broadband deployment by 2016, plans to reach the 30 percent of Americans who can’t tap into broadband are still emerging. Federal grants to rural telecoms have helped, but it will largely be a private-sector endeavor driven by society’s rapid transition into wireless communications.

Apparently, even "rapid" wasn't fast enough, so the private sector went away. Its more costly to run wire to just a few customers in rural areas, so see ya later.

Even though internet providers did quite well expanding service in cities and connected townships under current regulations, it's crazy to think the rules could also apply to rural small business owners.

Tom Still offered up the benefits of broadband, that could have been great for business in rural Wisconsin:

Broadband allows small businesses, which account for most new jobs in Wisconsin, to expand their markets and customer bases to regional, national and even international levels through greater use of eCommerce sales channels.

It creates more opportunities for creation of businesses related to information technology.

It enables hospitals and clinics to make better use of telemedicine.

It provides rural Wisconsin residents with greater access to higher education or continued education through “distance learning” systems.

It makes rural Wisconsin more likely to attract large data centers.

It will enhance tourism.

It will enhance public safety by allowing more rapid response to emergencies

But the free market still wasn't convinced, so the marketplace is deciding to leave the rural areas behind. If it's too expensive it can't be done.

But Tom Still would still like to take taxpayer funding for expansion, while getting rid of consumer protections and regulation, all under the his phony "nonpartisan" advocacy.

 To that point, it’s a message about clearing old regulatory hurdles and not creating new barriers.

Note: The size of government has expanded in sync with the U.S. population and new forms of business. In Tom Still's world, new business would be exempt from consumer protections. A return to "buyer beware." How uncertain would that be to Americans consumers?