You have an inalienable right to life, liberty and wireless Internet.
At least that’s what one possible Democratic candidate for president in 2016 is now arguing.
During a recent CNN interview, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley asserted that “WiFi is a human right.”
“Younger people are choosing to live in cities,” O’Malley said in the interview, discussing generational shifts. “They realize that connections to each other are making us better. That WiFi is a human right. That proximity is important to entrepreneurship, access to capital and talent and diversity. There is an opportunity there for us as a nation to embrace that new perspective.”
Other liberals have used similar language about wireless Internet. As far back as 2005, then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom referred to Wi-Fi as a “fundamental right.”
But it’s the sort of comment sure to be ridiculed by conservatives, considering the most agreed-upon human rights include things like freedom of religion and freedom from slavery.
Even though former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton handily leads polls of Democratic voters, O’Malley is among a handful of other Democrats flirting with a bid of his own. A recent McClatchy/Marist poll showed O’Malley receiving 2 percent to Clinton’s 64 percent.