The original internet required switches and routers, which had to be invented just for it. That was a huge investment. Then as it grew, the requirements grew exponentially.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Gardner got one right. The original internet was DARPANet, and was a defense program. It was funded by the government for decades before becoming useful. We need more moon shot government programs, not less. We need government funding huge numbers of research projects that will mostly fail. The reason is the few wild successes.
Those were not networks in the modern sense. Their failure was they just connected two points with a phone line. There was no switching, or routing. There were no packets at all. If the line between the two points went out, there was no communication. The packet switching, as used in the internet, solved all that and created a real network. Each packet picked its own path, so if one line went out, it was quickly replaced. Also any two nodes could communicate with each other. Better yet, all nodes could communicate with all notes at the same time.
Well, that is not true. It could not be further from the truth.
Reality time: Biden is pushing along nuclear development. trump would talk about pushing it along, but would quickly lose interest.
The solution is to improve the infrastructure. The infrastructure will only improve with more demand. All of this is common sense.
You would have argued against the car, because there were few paved roads, and no gas stations.