administration—a policy premised on confidence in the ability of
rural people and communities to use private sector resources to
solve their own problems. This policy, as many critics points out,
is at loggerheads with the reality of rural conditions today.
Toward Rural Policy
There are many definitions of policy—the governance process, a
wise and worldly management of affairs, a statement of goals, an
actual course of action and so on. A most useful definition is one that
requires both words and action by a governing body: a policy is a
settled course adopted and followed in practice. It is more than mere
words and more than simply what a government does. It is a course
of action formulated and adopted consciously and then followed con-
sistently in action.
Reviewing rural policy initiatives in the United States, Long and
associates make the following summary observation:
The federal government has operated a changing mix of pro-
grams aimed at helping rural areas for many years. Agricul-
tural programs, multi-state and sub-state regional development
programs, and special programs for small communities, in addi-
tion to national programs available in rural as well as urban
areas, seem to serve many, sometimes inconsistent, goals. To-
gether with state and local programs to encourage develop-
ment, help people enter (and leave) farming, and generally
improve the quality of rural life, these programs are the imple-
mentation mechanisms for rural policy. While such programs
have waxed and waned over time, there is no agreed assessment
of what they were intended to accomplish or just what their
effects have been (Long et al., p. v).
Strictly speaking, therefore, we do not have and have not had a real
rural policy, rather we have had a “changing mix of programs”
aimed more or less at helping people and communities in rural areas.
Moreover, given the array of actors in the policy formulation process
and the fluid and dynamic character of that process, it seems doubt-
ful that we ever could have a rural policy in the strict sense—a set-
tled course, consciously formulated and consistently followed by
government actions.
Still, the history of government efforts to help rural people and
communities in this country is a long and rich one and much can be
learned about our national will and capability from study of recur-
ring issues and themes in these efforts. Drawing upon a well-
documented historical record (Rasmussen), we find diverse sets of
federal programs pursuing many specific rural development objec-
tives for nearly one hundred years (Drabenstott, et al.).
Early in the twentieth century the Country Life Commission iden-
tified rural population needs and suggested a national agenda for
10