having been far more crucial to the survival of democracy in
the United States than rural electrification or the space
program.
But many of America's bad dreams, our sorriest future
scenarios, stem from a single and terrible fact: there
currently exists in this nation a vast and disenfranchised
underclass, drawn, most shamefully, along racial lines, and
permanent feature of the American landscape.
What you propose here, ladies and gentlemen, may well
represent nothing less than this nation's last and best
hope of providing something like a level socio-economic
playing field for a true majority of its citizens.
In that light, let me make three modest proposals.
In my own best-case scenario, every elementary and high
school teacher in the United States of America will have
unlimited and absolutely cost-free professional access to
long-distance telephone service. The provision of this
service could be made, by law, a basic operation requirement
for all telephone companies. Of course, this would also
apply to cable television.
By the same token, every teacher in everyy American
public school will be provided, by the manufacturer, on
demand, and at no cost, with copies of any piece of software
whatever -- assuming that said software's manufacturer would
wish their product to be commercially available in the
United States.
What would this really cost us, as a society? Nothing.
It would only mean a so-called loss of potential revenue for
some of the planet's fattest and best-fed corporations. In
bringing computer and network literacy to the teachers of
our children, it would pay for itself in wonderful and
wonderfully unimaginable ways. Where is the R&D support for
teaching? Where is the tech support for our children's
teachers? Why shouldn't we give our teachers a license to
obtain software, all software, any software, for nothing?
Does anyone demand a licensing fee, each time a child
is taught the alphabet?
Any corporation that genuinely wishes to invest in this
country's future should step forward now and offer services
and software. Having thrived under democracy, in a free
market, the time has come for these corporations to
demonstrate an enlightened self-interest, by acting to
