How can they block municipal fiber isps ? Or prevent epb from selling services ?
[1] https://broadbandnow.com/report/municipal-broadband-roadbloc...
"Privatize profits, subsidize losses." —My neighbor Tennesseans (when I used to live on Lookout).
Blocking public services that naturally have a pricing advantage over private businesses because they're supported by tax dollars. Like if you're gonna drag Republicans for not living up to their free market ideals this really isn't what you should point to.
People said the same thing when they opposed the public option in the '00's and the rationale was the same. "Competing" with government services is just roundabout price controls. I'm zero percent opposed to such things when the market fails to sort itself out but I can see why strict free market adherents wouldn't be on board.
That's the stated rationale. The actual reason is that the entirety of Republican economic ideology revolves around the idea that the government isn't capable of providing better service than private companies and municipal broadband shows this to be a complete lie.
I'm also fairly sure that most Republicans would not mind if municipal broadband were run - and competed on - commercial terms.
However, if it's funded by municipal bonds that are backed by general obligation (i.e. all taxpayers subsidize, whether they use the service or not) then that seems obviously a problem to me. Even if they're revenue bonds, they're still implicitly subsidized by tax treatment.
Oh'shucks, meself. /s
Again, for the people in the back!
BRING BACK RANK-CHOICE VOTING (To Tennessee, specifically!)
When your power disconnect here (without explanation), somebody from the power company shows up within the hour (to figure out why, then replace any broken hardware). But this is rare, as the "auto switchers" can typically reroute blackouts, restoring service usually within seconds.
If the state constitution doesn’t say otherwise, the legislature can just pass a law saying municipalities can’t get into the internet business and that’s that. This comes up a lot with liberal cities in conservative states.