The Western Governors Association (WGA) Reimagining the Rural West (RRW) project is still marching on. Now, there is a new name to bury it under, Out West. Podcasts are being created to talk about their vision of what rural communities should look like, including Idaho. This is the "inaugural" PodBean of Out West with Governor Little sitting right there with the rest of them. Since that time in January, there have been three others.
The original instigator of RRW, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, is the guest speaker. He starts off by describing the opportunity to create rural communities that are safe, have "world class" education systems, and of course attract a workforce. Insultingly, he describes what he thinks is the way in which people think about rural areas changed, from "classic western movie ghost town" perceptions to "vibrant healthy" communities. Come on Mr. Burgum, really? Your "help" with "local decision makers" has not been sought, nor is it wanted, and those decision makers, properly called elected officials, have the responsibility to listen to constituents that elected them, not you. Forget your desire to bring in "smart infrastructure", it is well known that "the development of new climate smart infrastructure" is a United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), How this equates with lower property taxes is unbelievable. Mr. Burgum is correct about the rural workforce issues, those workforces primarily devastated by the shutting down of the resource extraction industries. The plan for "broadband" connectivity to benefit various recreation activities is in the realm of "nuts". RRW is a plan that is about nothing more than creating a technocratic empire where all aspects of rural life are controlled. How this is surmised as a contribution to a lower cost of living is your delusion. Promoting increased populations in rural areas is way off as well. Citizens choose to live in rural areas for a reason, and using your North Dakota example, that reason does not include a population growth of 1,500 to 15,000 for an increase in public service, hospitals, or more daycare. In your limited ability to understand, rural communities have high school activities that support their youth, and just because you think every activity should be included does not mean it is what a community wants. Inviting kids from other countries just for the purposes of diversity is another aspect that is the decision of a local community. Just how exactly does that contribute to a greater "quality of life"? If there is a "divide" between rural and urban areas, it is because citizens have made the free choice to live different lifestyles. But you don't get that, do you Mr. Burgum. You want to sterilize rural life by pushing it to behave like an urban area. One truth expressed by Mr. Burgum, the intent is moving rural communities "beyond extraction based economies". Revealed in the WGA workshops, this agenda is forcing rural communities to green energy. As this UN video points out, moving to a technological world has the potential to displace those who do not follow, that is why RRW has such a drive to push rural communities towards urbanization and connectivity. The connectivity agenda is really about forcing the west into an Internet of Things (IoT) world. Thinking this connectivity world is one "that people will want to live in" is a fantasy. What makes Mr. Burgum and the WGA think rural citizens are not already in the world they want to live in, having no desire for anyone to come in and create one that others think they should live in? Mr. Burgum's belief in "collaboration" to make all of this happen has just one flaw. This project was started without any collaboration with rural communities. The only collaboration seen here is with the federal government and their partnership with the UN to implement SDG. The February Episode 2 PodBean can be found here; March Episode 3 here; and April Episode 4 here.
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