{"id":23914,"date":"2021-01-21T02:14:45","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T02:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=23914"},"modified":"2021-01-22T03:15:21","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T03:15:21","slug":"5-ways-biden-can-help-rural-america-thrive-and-bridge-the-rural-urban-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/5-ways-biden-can-help-rural-america-thrive-and-bridge-the-rural-urban-divide\/","title":{"rendered":"5 ways Biden can help rural America thrive and bridge the rural-urban divide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ann Eisenberg<\/a>, University of South Carolina<\/a><\/em>; Jessica A. Shoemaker<\/a>, University of Nebraska-Lincoln<\/a><\/em>, and Lisa R. Pruitt<\/a>, University of California, Davis<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that rural and urban people have grown apart culturally and economically<\/a> in recent years. A quick glance at the media \u2013 especially social media \u2013 confirms an ideological gap has also widened.<\/p>\n

City folks have long been detached from rural conditions. Even in the 1700s<\/a>, urbanites labeled rural people as backward<\/a> or different. And lately, urban views of rural people have deteriorated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All three<\/a> of us are<\/a> law professors<\/a> who study and advocate intervention to assist distressed rural communities. The response we often hear is, \u201cYou expect me to care about those far-off places, especially given the way the people there vote?\u201d<\/p>\n

Our answer is \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rural communities provide much of the food and energy<\/a> that fuel our lives. They are made up of people who, after decades of exploitative resource extraction and neglect, need strong connective infrastructure and opportunities to pursue regional prosperity. A lack of investment in broadband, schools, jobs, sustainable farms, hospitals<\/a>, roads and even the U.S. Postal Service<\/a> has increasingly driven rural voters to seek change from national politics. And this sharp hunger for change gave Trump\u2019s promises to disrupt the status quo particular appeal<\/a> in rural areas.<\/p>\n

Metropolitan stakeholders often complain that the Electoral College and U.S. Senate give less populous states disproportionate power nationally. Yet that power has not steered enough resources, infrastructure investment and jobs to rural America for communities to survive and thrive.<\/p>\n

So, how can the federal government help?<\/p>\n

Based on our years of research into rural issues, here are five federal initiatives that would go a long way toward empowering distressed rural communities to improve their destinies, while also helping bridge the urban\/rural divide.<\/p>\n