Thank You Big Gumint!

by digby

My internet service has been disrupted since last night and my laptop is on the fritz so I’ve been offline until this moment — where I am blogging from the beautiful new Santa Monica public library.

The place is crammed full of people, in the stacks, online at the 50 or more modern computers that are available to the public or sitting comfortably in easy chairs in this free wifi environment with their laptops — some of them ancient but still servicable. There are a whole bunch of kids in the great children’s sections being taught how to read and love books. And there are a ton of elderly who are hanging out in a nice peaceful, comfortable environment in the presence of other people instead of sitting all alone.

Can I just say how valuable these kinds of public services are to a community and how much those who are usually lucky enough to be able to afford all these luxuries like broadband or wi-fi or new computers take such things for granted? This is the type of thing our tax dollars pay for and when we “starve the beast” it’s the first thing that goes. Yet without it we will further stratify out society and make it impossible for a vast number of people to be productive, informed, connected citizens.

This is one of those great examples of important government functions that Bill Sher suggests we talk about in his book “Wait! Don’t Move To Canada.” So I’m talking about it.

Today, I’m one of those people who needs this public service. I’m damned glad to have it and proud to pay my taxes to support it.

(Of course, this is Santa Monica, so I can buy a delicious soy latte right here too. Is this a great blue state or what?)

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