Enjoy the book — it’s remarkably well-written. And terribly important to understanding how we go forward, as you discovered in your own community. If you have a chance, head over to David’s own site; I think he’d like to hear your story, in case his busy schedule doesn’t bring him back around here soon.

In 2005, the town I live in, Lafayette, Louisiana, conducted a referendum on whether our municipally-owned utility system should be able to sell $125 million in bonds to finance a fiber to the home project. Our community has seriously bought into the idea that the widespread availability of information technology is the path to community development and economic growth in the 21st Century.

What is relevant about the election (which we proponents of the project won 68% to 32%) was that we had a Republican Parish (county) president openly campaigning against distant corporate interests who did not have the interests of our community at heart. He distinguished between corporate capitalism and small business capitalism, the “mom and pop” businesses.

Those of us progressives who were involved in the campaign were surprised by the amount of anti-corporate sentiment in this community. What is striking is that about this same time (2005) Lafayette was ranked as one of the top-ten most conservative communities in the country. So, this uprising is real and it cuts across established political divisions, opening the way to new alliances.

I look forward to reading the book.

There are commenters on both sides guilty of doing so, but he crossed a sacred line for me just now …