I've blogged about broadband as a political issue before; and now, it's arrived in the gubernatorial campaign as an issue. Eliot Spitzer's keynote address at Monday's PDF forum cast universal broadband access as being as much of an infrastructure necessity as, say, roads.

There is a growing digital divide in the world and, indeed, right here in New York. Our Internet speeds are slower and our prices are higher compared to most other industrialized nations of the world. As Andrew Rasiej has said, "We are getting Third World service at First World prices." Consider this: On a price-performance basis, U.S. broadband service is twice as expensive as in China, eight times more expensive than in South Korea, and thirty times more expensive than in Japan. It is no wonder that the United States has plummeted from 4th in the world in broadband penetration to 16th in just the last four years. The United States is still the only industrialized nation without an explicit national policy for promoting broadband access.[...]

That's why today I am proposing that New York launch a comprehensive statewide broadband initiative to ensure universal access to affordable, high-speed broadband service for every New Yorker. We must make New York State the most connected and technologically advanced place to live and do business in the world. The problem isn't a lack of resources, it's a lack of imagination and a lack of leadership.

In the 21st Century, Internet access is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity. The economic, education, health, security, government efficiency and social benefits from universal broadband access are limitless:

Economists at the Brookings Institutions estimate that widespread adoption of broadband in the United States could add $500 billion to the nation's economy and produce over one million jobs. They also estimate that the cost to our economy for not adopting such a policy would be $1 trillion over the next decade.

In real terms, universal broadband access would immediately reduce the overhead of our small businesses and would connect them in real time to customers, suppliers and markets. Farmers in rural Upstate New York could control and monitor equipment and manage irrigation systems from anywhere on the farm.

In a nutshell, this is what Progressive leadership looks like. By contrast, the presumptive other-party nominee is currently talking about how much he hates abortion.

Feh.