Dear Mr. President:

I love this day!  It is the beginning of a new chapter in American history.  It is a day of re-birth and re-newal.  Anything is possible!

On this day, Mr. President, I ask that you not forget rural America.  I realize you have many large problems on your plate.  I also realize that, given your passion for the city centers in our country, it may be easy for you to forget us country folk.  However, as I listened to you today, the values that you want us to re-visit in ourselves (hard-work, courage, loyalty and patriotism), are values that have remained constant in rural America.

Rural America lives everyday, as you described in your speech, “…firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task”.   As farmers head out in the cold tomorrow morning, they will work very hard for their family.  They will work hard to make a living in very difficult times.  These farming communities know that hard work is what makes this nation great.  They also know that there is strength in community.

Mr. President, rural America long ago realized the importance of community committment and involvement.  In many ways, rural America has modeled this “call to service” that you advocated today.  In these respects, we can be the model for what you are challenging us towards as a nation.

However, I am not naive.  Rural America also has been a place of historic segregation, racial bigotry, and intolerance.  In many places in rural America, we need to grow in the values of fair play, tolerance and curiosity.  In that respect we need your leadership to help us move towards a more complete and whole community.  

In an effort to model your call for a more open and honest discussion, Mr. President, you need to know that rural America will work hard to make this nation a better place.  I respectfully ask that you keep our voice in your ear.  We will work hard, but we need better access.  We need better access to the internet and the global society.  We need better access to quality, well-funded education.  Give us this way into the future, and trust me, rural America will respond with all the vigor required in the challenge.  And, in the process, by providing us with this opportunity to enage in a more open and diverse world, we will be able to rip apart the narrow thinking that has become ingrained in the mindset of so many people rural places.

Today is a day of hope and new beginnings.  As you set your agenda, don’t forget us.  Empower us with your programs and insights and we will respond.  We have the sense of community already woven into our being.  Hard work is our normative pattern of behavior.  Provide us the experiences and we will awaken a new people, ready to embrace this changing world and overcome the issues of poverty, bigotry, narrow thinking that has held us back for some time. 

God bless you President Obama, and God bless this great and ever-changing nation.     

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As the season of the Presidential election is upon us, it is important that rural voters remember their responsibility and become politically informed.  For example, does anyone know the status of the “Connect the Nation Act” introduce by Dick Durbin in 2007?  Or what about the “Rural Teacher Retention Act”? (here’s a hint…it’s a year later and both are still in committee).

Reliable broadband access and teacher recruitment/retention are just two of the many issues that face rural educators in this country.  As voters, it is important that we let our federal, state, and local government officials know the issues that matter to us.  Remember, they rely on our votes to keep their employment.  As a collective group, rural America has an enormous impact on the upcoming elections in this country.  Be informed and take action.  The future of rural America depends on your participation.

To read some of the important issues, check out The Rural Assembly’s and the League of Rural Voters websites.  Both provide and overview of important issues that impact rural America.

http://www.ruralassembly.org/

http://www.leagueofruralvoters.org/

Remeber, the last day to register to vote in Ohio is October 6th!  Be sure to register and participate in this important process.

Feel free to post other issues that you think are important to rural America!

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