Setting an Agenda for a Better South: Day 3

The 2009 "Setting an Agenda for a Better South"conference is drawing to a close today as Southern progressive leaders finalize a set of goals and tactics and strategies for reaching those goals. The conference has decided on a list of 9 important issue areas where the South could make major improvements:

-Job Creation/Employment
-Education
-Wellness
-Energy
-Taxes
-Infrastructure
-Governance
-Social Justice
-Community Safety

Later today, the attendees will devise a set of nine measurable policy goals that will address the above issues and call on elected officials in Southern states to work towards meeting these goals.

PANEL: McCorkle, Barth on Southern leadership

Political consultant Mac McCorkle and Hendrix College proofessor Jay Barth are up for a panel discussion on Southern leadership moderated by former US Congressman Glen Browder of Alabama.

Up first is McCorkle, who is focusing much of his discussion on former NC Gov. Terry Sanford, to whom McCorkle served as an aide. McCorkle makes a number of interesting observations on Sanford's leadership style. McCorkle says that Sanford would be disappointed by the lack of leadership displayed by many of the leaders in the South. McCorkle says Sanford rejected the idea of limiting government to the "best and the brightest," instead working to involve people from all walks of life.

Barth follows with a presentation on the factors that have stymied leadership in the South. Barth says that the politics of emotion, which began during the 70s, and a resistance to diversity are the crucial reasons that the South as a region cannot lead.

Glen Browder closes the panel discussion in agreement with Barth's earlier statement that the South can't lead the rest of the country, saying that we can't even lead ourselves. Browder also says that the region must build race into our leadership and recognize the role of race in the legacy of the South. "We've got to break through the partisan trap. We've got to avoid electing leaders who run far-left as a Democrat, far-right as a Republican," says Browder.

PANEL: Southern trends, cont'd

Winthrop's Dr. Adolphus Belk is analyzing statistical data on political ideology and religion in the South and how those factors are affecting change in the South.

-Despite the fact that a conservative ideology tends to dominate Southern politics, a recent Gallup poll reveals that an overwhelming majority of Democrats and a plurality of Republicans and independents are not in favor of drastic spending cuts in areas like health care and education. Another interesting poll revealed that a plurality of Southerners also believes that the government should increase its involvement in protecting the environment.

-Religion plays an important role in the lives of Southerners across racial and socioeconomic boundaries.

-Southern states are also performing poorly in the area of health, with Southern states well represented amongst the bottom states in terms of access to a healthy life and health insurance.

-The decline of productive manufacturing has lead to a society in which it's harder for lower- and middle-class workers to move up.

-The "up from the bootstraps" mentality behind Southern thinking fails to recognize government programs like GI Bill.

Governing Magazine's Richard Greene, a consultant for the Pew Center on the States, is up now, discussing the Pew Center's "Grading the States" project.

PANEL: Southern Trends

Governing Magazine's Richard Greene is moderating a panel analyzing Southern trends with UNC's Ferrel Guillory and Winthrop's Adolphus Belk.

Guillory's presentation outlined changes in electoral, demographic, and socioeconomic indicators amongst Southern states, pointing out some of the most concerning changes. Some of the interesting thoughts presented:

-The South is outpacing the rest of the nation in population growth, fueled by the influx of more affluent Whites and African Americans into growing metropolitan areas.

-One of the biggest problems in the South is the disparity in education attainment amongst different racial groups- particularly Southern Latinos, 40% of whom don't have a high school diploma, compared with 23% of blacks and 14% of whites.

-In the rest of the country, dropout rates are higher amongst blacks than whites, but in the South, high school dropout rates are a biracial problem.

-The South shifting away from blue collar jobs and towards "inside jobs."

-The idea of a purely rural South is slowly dying, creating a greater disparity betweent he metropolitan areas and the rural buffer zones that separate them.

All of these factors are coming together to create a Southern society with more affluence, but greater inequality. One key solution to helping some of the rural areas catch up to the metropolitan areas is using government resources to create a link between the two areas.

Winthrop University's Dr. Adolphus Belk is up now, discussing political ideology and religious trends.