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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mike_60" data-source="post: 1986941" data-attributes="member: 16957">Every president all the way back to the founding of the Bell System back in the 1870’s (I believe) has put some mark on it.  The push in the 1930’s was to create universal coverage, not meaning a free service, but that the system would be available everywhere.  There have been almost countless public investments made in the system over the decades that included taxes, subsidies, bonds, etc., to make that happen, but it also included, huge amounts of private investments.  The overall project took a generation to come to near completion.   It wasn’t just with the phone company either, all utilities worked hand in hand with various government entities to make the progress needed to fund their expansion. Reagan (the compassionate conservative that he was) felt that a little burden on everyone via a miniscule tax on phone service would make a huge difference in the lives of the indigent, and he was right.  Again, every president has put their stamp on things with some of them updating the system, others expanding coverage, and some just using it as a political tool.</blockquote>