There's a lot of hyperbole there. (Patrick Henry, right, was nothing if not hyperbolic.)

But the fact is that the tools and technologies needed to create a "hot zone" -- an area that can get 802.11 wireless coverage -- keeps going down.

There is no need for such zones to be defined by political boundaries. There is no need for there to be just one such network in an area. There are tons of places near me that have multiple networks in reach. That's the beauty of the unlicensed band.

What you need to deliver a HotZone to a corner, a neighborhood, or a development are:

• Backhaul.
  
• Access points that can live outside.
  
• Antenna arrays that let you serve your whole service area efficiently, by which I mean efficiently in terms of spectrum use.
  

The biggest danger to this vision is coming, the mergers of local and Internet backhaul outfits to be known as Verizon and AT&T.

If those companies are allowed to consolidate and control Internet backhaul and sell it through an eye-dropper, as they now sell broadband through an eye-dropper, then they can halt the American wireless revolution in its tracks.

But there's a dirty little secret for these boys.

America ain't the world.

Any country that implements this technology combination -- WiMax, WiFi, fiber -- can deliver its citizens the future at lightspeed. And leave America in the dust.

Think Americans will stand for that, once it happens?

I don't.

Hence the title.