Will Obama Win the Election in Exchange for Free Cell Phones?

The Dayton Daily news reported recently on a program that gives subsidized cell phones to low-income individuals that has just about doubled in size in in Ohio in the last year (story).

• Nationwide there were about 11.5 million participants in the first quarter of 2011. Through the first quarter of 2012 the number had risen to 16.5 million.
• The program is estimated to cover over a million people in Ohio.
• The program is funded through the “Universal Service Fund” charge on phone bills (i.e. you are paying for it).

See this chart of annual expenditures since 2008:

Obama’s Ohio victory margin in 2008 was 262,224 votes. Could the over-a-million covered by the free phone program in Ohio be persuaded to support the President’s reelection? Sound far fetched? Listen as the woman in the video below speaks about her “free Obama phone”:

What progressive politicians ever thought to support this idea? What lobbyists for cell phone providers teed the idea up in the first place? Talk about redistribution – isn’t your cell phone bill high enough already?

This is yet another example of incompetent, overreaching, unprincipled, and interventionist government.  The unintended (or perhaps intended) consequence may determine the 2012 election.

The saddest part – you paid for it.