Where urban and rural meet: Utahns should work together despite location.

• Author: Gochnour, Natalie
• Position: Economic Insight

Some time ago I was taught the golden rule about rural Utah. It went something like this: "Once you've seen one rural community, you've seen one rural community."

The statement speaks to the uniqueness of Utah's cities and towns and their separate challenges--large and small, rich and poor, accessible and remote.

As much as I appreciate the wisdom of this rule, I challenge the notion that every community is separate and facing an independent future. Significant diversity exists in Utah. Provo is very different from Panguitch. Murray is different from Minersville. But even though the challenges are different, urban and rural Utah are deeply connected, and our futures are intertwined.

My thesis works like this: Utah is a state with tremendous promise. It stands at the center of the new American West--the fastest growing, youngest and most beautiful part of this incredible country. Utah has stellar leadership, wonderful people, rich natural resources, superb infrastructure and a spectacular natural environment. All of us are rightly proud to call Utah home.

But underneath this enormous potential, we have a problem. It's an insidious problem that left unchecked will starve us of our potential. The problem that I speak of is the problem of division ... the ever-present temptation to divide into groups and ultimately create extremes. Once divided, the gap grows, contention sets in, walls are built, positions are fortified and division begins to take root.

In the public square we see the division between urban and rural Utah in which highways are funded, which institutions of higher learning get new buildings, how we address immigration reform, how we preserve our wild lands, and who gets to be in charge on Capitol Hill.

There is an old, out-of-date saying, "When GM coughs, America catches a cold." A more accurate statement is that when urban Utah coughs, rural Utah catches a cold. The converse is also true.

The simple fact is that we all have a stake in the success of all regions of the state. We are economically, socially, historically, culturally and geographically...