Homesteading the Future

Great piece celebrating the anniversary of The Homestead Act in today's WSJ.  I really like articles that describe history, but make me think about the future.

Here's a challenge to today's policy makers: Find a contemporary equivalent to the Homestead Act.  All else aside, the Homestead Act is precisely what a poverty-abatement program should be: It created opportunities for all willing to sieze them.  No one was entitled to anything, but anyone willing to move and to work was handed an unparalleled opportunity.  What would it mean to homestead the information age?  Our success at answering that question is the key to our own future national success.