I have a dumb question that no one seems capable of answering directly: Why is 5G a race?

Everyone -- the wireless industry, Democrats, Republicans, the major media, you name it -- frames the building of next-generation 5G networks as a "race" in which the United States needs to demonstrate "leadership."

Here is The Washington Post declaring America has the lead in the race to 5G. Here's CNN asking "Who's winning the race to 5G?" Here's AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson declaring that China isn't beating the US to 5G "yet," as some sort of ominous warning. Here's T-Mobile CEO John Legere telling the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology that merging with Sprint will let his company "win the race to 5G." Here is an entire microsite from industry lobbying group CTIA titled "The Race to 5G."

Let us never forget AT&T being so desperate to lead this "race" that it rolled out fake 5Ge logos on its phones.

But the stakes of this supposed race are wholly unclear. What happens if we win, besides telecom execs getting slightly richer?