Since a large portion of the US population and a large portion of Democrats live in cities, rural poverty issues can be inadvertently missed by the major voices of the day. John Edwards released a news item today showing the way for bringing rural America up and out of the sliding slope it has been on.
Earlier today we were treated to a nice diary about Obama's outline for helping urban poverty. It is great to see that the Democrats taking on poverty head on as one of the most important issues. I understand that there is a real difference between urban and rural poverty in the country and so does Edwards. I think many people don't understand the differences or just think of one or the other when the hear the word "poor." But thanks to the concentration on this issue, we can get some great exposure on an issue that is usually hidden as eagerly as home plate.
More below:
http://johnedwards.com/...
Edwards Outlines Plan To Revitalize Rural Communities In South Carolina
Discusses Rural Recovery Plan, which would restore economic fairness and help struggling towns
Florence, South Carolina – Senator John Edwards visits South Carolina today to discuss his plan to revitalize rural South Carolina communities through his Rural Recovery Plan. Edwards will speak at the Florence County Democratic Party's "First Monday Breakfast Club" Lunch, and then take a walking tour of Bishopville—a rural South Carolina community—with State Representatives Leon Howard and Grady Brown and actor Danny Glover. Edwards will meet with South Carolinians to discuss the challenges facing rural communities and to discuss his plan to restore economic fairness and create new jobs and businesses in rural areas across America, help struggling counties and towns and protect the rural way of life.
"Growing up in mill towns, I didn't have much, but through hard work and with the support of my family and community, I was able to go to college and get ahead," said Edwards. "Today, too many Americans are separated from the same opportunities I had. Across America and here in South Carolina, many rural communities are struggling. We need to help small towns and rural communities create and keep new businesses and good jobs, and we need a president who will make sure all our communities have good schools, good health care and the support systems they need."
Born in Seneca, Edwards knows the struggles of rural South Carolina families. He believes that America cannot turn its back on rural communities that are the keepers of American values like family, work, community, and freedom. Today, many rural areas are struggling: rural families in South Carolina earn 13 percent less than other families and the ten poorest counties in the state are rural. Rural manufacturing has been hit particularly hard by international trade, outsourcing, and automation. Edwards has laid out a Rural Recovery Plan to lift up rural communities.
This news item concentrates on South Carolina for obvious reasons, it is one of the first states before Super Tuesday. However, it is a national plan. As a resident of Arkansas, I know this plan applies well to the rural areas here as well. I live in a rural area and some 70% of the people here are below the poverty line and we are one of the better rural areas of the state. It is a real problem and it is only getting worse.
Edwards' Rural Recovery Plan would:
- Restore economic fairness to rural America by helping small businesses thrive and grow. Edwards will create the Rural Economic Advancement Challenge (REACH) Fund to bring capital and management expertise to small town America.
This is possibly the best idea here. As we well know here in Northwest Arkansas, Wal-Mart has had a devastating effect on rural communities over the years due to the closing of small businesses that can't compete with the giant's prices.
- Create a new energy economy in rural America by establishing the New Energy Economy Fund to jumpstart renewable energies. Edwards will create new markets for ethanol, invest in renewable energy research, support locally owned biorefineries and require 25 percent of electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2025.
I think this idea has great potential. What better way to increase the viability of rural areas than to use one of the only advantages they have... land. So far only people with major money have been able to invest in wind farms, but I see a particularly good possibility for people in rural communities to make use of wind and solar power at their homes. This could reduce some of the biggest costs that they have, heat and electricity. They could even make money off of giving energy back to the power grid as John Edwards has proposed subsidizing decentralizing the grid for exactly that purpose. The main obstacle here is the initial cost on people and I would love to see what the possibilities are for decreasing or subsidizing those. I am not that big a fan of biofuels as they pollute nearly as much as gas, but some states are relying on them to get some money to farmers.
- Strengthen rural schools by improving pay for teachers in rural and other hard-to-staff schools to help attract quality new and experienced teachers, and by creating digital learning opportunities.
There is a real teacher shortage in our state. The urban areas are fine, but the rural areas are going without enough teachers and the teachers that do work in those areas are effectively volunteering with the amount that they get paid. Some areas are less than $20,000 a year for a full time teacher. Arkansas schools are well known for being a big problem and particularly in the rural south part of the state. It has gotten so bad that the Supreme Court of Arkansas declared that Arkansas was breaking the Constitution by not funding the education system enough for these rural areas. This is a particularly troublesome area for Arkansas because the school districts are broken into towns, so when everyone in town is poor, the school gets no money. Many of these schools are fortunate to have any computers at all that teachers can use, let alone the students.
- Improve health care in rural America by rewriting the unfair Medicare and Medicaid funding formulas that punish rural states and communities, and supporting investments in telemedicine. Additionally, Edwards' plan for universal health care will cover the 9 million rural Americans that lack insurance and establish a nationwide network of safety net clinics and public hospitals.
- Rid rural America of methamphetamines by investing in the enforcement of drug laws in rural areas, help states make meth ingredients more difficult to get and expand programs that successfully treat addicts.
Arkansas has already made it very difficult to get Sudafed over the counter. The meth epidemic is a big issue here as it is in many parts of the country, especially the South.
More information on his plan is also available here:
http://johnedwards.com/...
Restoring Economic Fairness To Rural America:
- Investing Seed Money for Rural Recovery: Cultivating small businesses is a promising economic development strategy for rural areas, but only 1 percent of state economic development funds now support local entrepreneurs. Edwards will create the Rural Economic Advancement Challenge (REACH) Fund to bring capital and management expertise to small town America. The REACH Fund will connect investors with rural entrepreneurs, organize businesses into networks to help them succeed together, and ensure that rural areas have access to investment capital. [RUPRI, 2007]
- Creating the New Energy Economy in Rural America: Renewable sources of energy -- including ethanol, biodiesel, wind, and solar -- can make the U.S. independent of foreign oil, cut global warming pollution, and create new industries and hundreds of thousands of jobs in rural America. Edwards will establish the New Energy Economy Fund to jumpstart renewable energies with start-up capital.
- Investing in Rural Broadband: Rural households are about half as likely to have a broadband connection even though digital inclusion is one of the surest ways to attract businesses. Edwards will identify service gaps to encourage investment, require telephone and cable companies not to discriminate against rural communities and set aside a portion of the broadcast spectrum for community providers to improve service in rural areas. [ITU, 2006; CWA, 2006; Pew, 2006]
- Prohibiting Banks from Discriminating against Rural America: Rural communities have fewer bank branches and per-capita small business loans, and more high-cost mortgages. Edwards will prevent banks from discriminating against rural areas and increase investment in rural small businesses. He will also enact a strong national law against predatory mortgages common in rural areas. [NCRC, 2007; Carsey Institute, 2006; FRB of St. Louis, 2004; SBA, 2004; ICBA, 2006.]
- Creating Fairness for Family Farmers: Edwards will strictly enforce laws against anticompetitive mergers and unfair pricing, and will support country-of-origin labeling laws. He will enact a national ban on packer ownership and a moratorium on hog farm lagoons. To help family farmers, he will limit farm subsidies to $250,000 per person, close loopholes in payment limits, and expand conservation programs.
- Fighting for Economic Fairness: The 11 counties with the highest rates of child poverty in South Carolina are all rural. To eliminate poverty nationwide within 30 years, Edwards will immediately raise the minimum wage to at least $7.50, cut taxes for low-wage workers, help workers save and invest, and expand affordable housing near good jobs and schools. [Census Bureau, 2000]
Helping Rural Towns And Counties:
- Guaranteeing Rural America the Funding It Needs and Is Entitled to: More than half of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's $70 billion in rural development funds has gone to metropolitan regions, suburbs, and resort towns like Martha's Vineyard. Edwards will rewrite funding rules to bring resources to needy rural areas. Because many small towns lack grant-writing expertise, Edwards will direct federal agencies to simplify the grant application. [Washington Post, 4/6/2007]
- Strengthening Rural Schools: Small rural schools often struggle to attract and retain excellent teachers and provide a complete curriculum. Rural schools in South Carolina are five times more likely to be rated below average or unsatisfactory. Edwards will improve pay for teachers in rural schools and offer college scholarships for students who commit to teach in rural schools. Distance learning can bring the content of the world's best universities, libraries, and museums to rural areas. Software incorporating virtual reality, digital modeling, and intelligent tutoring systems can dramatically accelerate learning. Edwards will invest in bringing these new teaching tools to rural America. [SCALJC, 2003; RSCT, 2006 and 2007; Digital Promise, 2003]
- Improving Rural Health Care: Over the past 25 years, 470 rural American hospitals have closed. Rural counties have only one-fourth as many doctors per capita and face critical gaps in trauma care. Edwards' universal health care plan will cover the 9 million uninsured rural Americans and establish a national network of safety net clinics and public hospitals. He will rewrite unfair funding formulas, and invest in telemedicine to connect distant specialists and advanced equipment with local doctors and patients. Improving health care in rural America will also drive economic development -- each doctor creates eight new jobs. [Winbush & Crichlow, 2005; USDA, 1999; Wakefield, 2000; KFF, 2003]
Protecting The Rural Way Of Life:
- Ridding Rural America of Methamphetamines: Many areas of rural America are facing the devastating effects of meth abuse. Edwards will invest in enforcing drug laws in rural areas, help states make meth ingredients more difficult to get, and expand treatment programs.
- Protecting Lawful Gun Ownership: In small towns, hunting and gun ownership is a way of life. We can protect Second Amendment rights while also doing more to keep guns out of the hands of people who may pose a danger to themselves or others. Edwards will protect the right of law-abiding citizens to participate in gun shows, while ensuring that firearms sold there are subject to an instant check.
- Expanding Access to Clean Water: Eighteen thousand South Carolina families lack basic plumbing facilities. Across America, rural households are four times more likely to go without proper plumbing. Edwards will help local areas improve their infrastructure and tackle local pollution problems. He will also establish tough clean air and water requirements for concentrated animal feeding operations. [Census Bureau, 2000; RCAP, undated]