Can broadband bridge our economic and political divides?

In November 2021, Congress passed the long-stalled $1 trillion dollar bipartisan infrastructure package. This includes a $65 billion dollars in federal finding for broadband. This investment, which includes potentially hundreds of millions of dollars for Michigan to extend broadband to smaller towns and rural reaches, promises to stitch these communities and their residents into our global tech-driven economy — giving them a chance to learn and do business with the world. And if economic divides are closed, these communities' residents are likely to find a new optimism and hope for the future that finds its expression at the ballot box. Internet connectivity, essential today for work, learning and community economic development — if delivered as promised — just might help us start to heal our political and our economic divides.

[John Austin is the former president of the Michigan State Board of Education and the director of Michigan Economic Center.]