Reclaim the airwaves as a National Resource

Scalzi’s weekly assignment: You’ve just been elected president. What one executive order would you like to give?

I asked that question of the residents of my Retirement Villa (Old folks home). They said (1) confiscate the world’s oil, (2) release national oil reserves, (3) declare a holiday, (4) close the borders to immigration, (5) bring back prohibition, (6) appoint another woman to the supreme court, and (7) order Tom Selleck to move to our town.

My own thought was to reclaim the airwaves as a national resource for the public good. Radio and television would be used, not as a huge billboard for advertising consumer goods, but as a forum for free expression ideas.

Imagine commercial free drama, music, talk. How about a free clear channel cell phone for everybody. How about wireless internet for every Middlesex, village, and farm?