Taking the Speed Matters message to Iowa

As the 2008 campaign heats up, the CWA Speed Matters team has been making the rounds in Iowa, informing candidates and citizens about the digital divide and the need for universal high speed internet access in the United States.

One stop on the Speed Matters campaign trail was Senator Tom Harkin's annual Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa, on September 16. The dinner and Democratic forum hosted six candidates--John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden--and 15,000 citizen attendees.

Despite the large number of groups with messages to send, Speed Matters rose to the occasion, spreading the word about the advantages of a fully connected America. There are many issues battling for the candidates' attention – education and employment, among others – and many of those are related to the digital divide.

Education can be improved by providing a level playing field for students to do online research and take advantage of distance learning. High speed internet access also helps workers to find employment and get online job training, and it opens up countless new opportunities for rural entrepreneurs.

The digital divide is still a reality, though, as one Steak Fry attendee told our Speed Matters crew. Eileen, an at-home accountant from rural Runnells, Iowa, knows firsthand the disadvantages of living in a community without high-speed internet:

"There are programs I try to download or update for my computer, and I cannot download a lot of updates because the connection doesn't stay strong enough… I don't feel as though it's right for other people to have [high-speed internet] services provided or available to them just because they live in a different area."

Eileen is right. Denying people access to high speed internet because of where they live is unfair and discriminatory – and it hurts our economy. That's why it’s so important for people like Eileen join the Speed Matters team to speak out at events like the Harkin Steak Fry. The more people who pound against the digital divide, the sooner it will break.