Brent Nelsen for Education

I returned this week from a three-day tour of Orangeburg, Bamburg, Barnwell and Allendale counties. These are not our state’s most prosperous counties, and indeed I saw firsthand desperate poverty, abandoned factories, and schools in shameful disrepair. I also met many heroes who love their towns and their neighbors-people who are giving of their hearts and souls to make their rural communities better.

I wish all of you could meet the folks in Norway, SC who have started Three Crosses Outreach to serve the needs of neighborhood children after school and all summer long. I wish you could meet Mayor McCollum of Bamberg who has a vision for reviving his town center and has the energy to do it. I wish you could meet the administrators at Bamberg-Ernhardt High School who work without air-conditioning in the summer or heat in the winter to serve the teens of Bamberg County. These folks labor everyday to improve the lives of the least visible people in some of the forgotten corners of our state. Folks in these areas have the passion and drive to improve their communities - and do it on a daily basis.

They deserve better leadership from Columbia.

They deserve elected officials with the character and integrity to work together to serve the tremendous needs of the people in this state.

They deserve leaders who who are committed to working full-time on creating jobs and educating our young people.

They deserve leaders who will not pass them by, but will stop by and listen to their concerns.

My tour of rural areas has given me great hope that most of our towns can be revived if energetic leaders are given the tools to make things happen.While touring the booming Husqvarna factory in Orangeburg, I was reminded of the truth that a South Carolina open to the world will thrive. Good leadership will work with town leaders and industries to ensure that they receive help when appropriate, but most importantly they will free leaders and industries so that they can create, innovate, and transform our state.