Essay points to a larger role for rural America

In his essay, "Nobody is Going to Bail Out Rural America," Dee Davis, founder and president of the Center for Rural Strategies, gives his take on how the next president needs to embrace the ways rural areas can help move the country toward a better future.

"When the credit crisis abates and the debts of all the profligates have been forgiven, the nation will still have some tough choices," writes Davis. "Will we rev up the same economic machine, built on the notion of cheap fossil fuel and limitless consumption, or will we shoot for something a little more sustainable? If it is the latter, rural communities have something to offer."

Davis suggests that rural America can play a crucial role in curing the ills that have led to many of the economic and environmental problems the country faces today. That potential has yet to be realized by the nation's policy makers. "The next president can choose to re-imagine rural policy in a way that prioritizes feeding and fueling a fragile planet," Davis writes on Anderson Cooper's 360 blog.

Davis suggest that the next president focus on reforming the agricultural system, saying the current one "has led to a spiraling decline in farmers and to an America -- once breadbasket to the world -- that is becoming a net food and agricultural products importer." Davis also suggests the next president move energy policy away from a system that "values riskier and riskier extraction and increasing consumption of fossil fuel,more than it values developing renewable energy and sustainable power."

While the essay is full of strong opinions, it does speak to the potential of rural communities. As the country looks to change and move forward when the next president comes into office it is clear that rural America can have a vital role to play. (Read more)