Ok I get it

Missouri (pronounced with an E) has a serious urban versus rural divide which has stymied cooperation and growth in an economically depressed region. Although the state has 2 large metropolitan regions we are disproportionately governed by decisions reflecting a rural interest and a sense of us vs. them animosity that continues to plague any chance of success in the 21st century.

Missouri is long overdue for a serious conversation what are the root causes of this animosity and how can we bridge the gap between operating as a two state system. Time is running precariously thin as we are already starting to see glimpses of how our society will be shaped by the future and just now realizing our current structure is to costly and to inefficient to continue in its present form.

People will continue to migrate to where jobs are located, this trend has negatively been affecting rural regions for some time and will continue to accelerate as metropolitan regions further increase their share of growth and development. Coupled with rising energy costs, lack of available/affordable transportation, rural semi-rural areas adjacent to metropolitan regions will continue to diminish regardless how many bridges are built and roads put in.

We as Missouri's need to be honest with ourselves if we want our state to thrive. We now longer as a society need so many people involved in agricultural processes additionally what we have lost in manufacturing will not return because someone can do it as proficiently for cheaper than we can. This will not change and to fight against the tide of globalization while hanging onto fragments of outmoded idealized cultural references will diminish us all.

We should not neglect our rural regions but we need to stop spoon feeding trite notions that our politicians are so found of metastasizing. Missouri has real growth opportunities in the green economy and much of this development will occur in our rural regions coupled with new advances in biotech we can certainly become a model for other states to follow and funding must increase to those sectors that seek to develop our potential resources. Political correctness must also cease and common issues much also be pushed into the forefront to get a win win for all Missourians. A good start would be to spend some political capital on reworking the USF.

To all of Missouri's citizens who do not refer to themselves as residents of a metropolitan region I ask that you reinterpret the notion that what is good for the city is detrimental to me because inversely what is bad for the city can also be bad for you too. We need to create viable growth engines that propel our state in the 21st century and to inhibit this potential due to qualms of distribution only slices our pie in ever decreasing magnitude.