This isn't the first time the federal government has tried to wire rural America.
The economic recovery act provides $7.2 billion to help get broadband to underserved locales, especially rural areas. Similarly, back in the 1930s, the federal Rural Electrification Agency helped get power lines to rural communities.
Nick Muntean, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Texas-Austin, looks at the historical comparisons between the rural electrification movement and current efforts to get rural America online. His report appears in The Daily Yonder, Rural Strategies' online news journal.
