Barnes pushes progressive, visionary leadership

ATLANTA, Oct. 16, 2005 -- Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes on Sunday said building a more progressive South will take old-fashioned leadership, according to the Center for a Better South.

"We're burdened by history and some bad things that have happened," Barnes told members of a men's group at Temple Sinai in northeast Atlanta. "And yet, we have this great opportunity in a region that has, in some sense, been untapped.

"It takes good leadership," he said. "Leadership is the one [quality] that allows us to be economically prosperous."

He said the right kind of leadership would be visionary and inclusive, just as Georgia showed visionary leadership in the early 1960s when it avoided racial strife that infected other states. As a result, corporate America took Atlanta seriously and moved in droves to the area.

"The inclusive, progressive vision is the one that yields prosperity."

For years, the South relied on cheap labor and big tax breaks to attract jobs. But in a global marketplace, those tools no longer work.

The best way to compete is to provide more educational opportunities "where our currency is not dollars and cents, but knowledge."

He added, "This business about educational improvement isn't about Shakespeare -- and I love Shakespeare. The question is whether our children will be able to compete economically."

At the meeting, Barnes urged members of the group to get involved with the Center for a Better South to help craft the policy ideas and initiatives to push the South toward more prosperity through a progressive vision.