Rural America does not need to become a welfare state. Many rural
communities are dying, but some are succeeding where others have
failed. To one, diversity becomes a stimulus to organize. To the
other, diversity suffocates economic development. To one, adversity
becomes a source of energy to continue progress. To the other, ad-
versity becomes an insurmountable hurdle.
Rural America must continue to provide food and fiber for our na-
tion and, more specifically, the conservative, common-sense leaders
our nation so desperately needs. America was settled by castaways
who had nothing but a dream. Rural communities are the castaways
of today and, while holding some 90 percent of the nation’s natural
resources, they can still realize the true American dream if they or-
ganize around the diversity of their economic geography.
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