FREE WHITEWATER

Bad Policy’s Like Low-Level Radiation Exposure

It’s seldom true that a single misstep ruins an official.  With the exception of criminal conduct, most mistakes are ones from which a politician or bureaucrat can recover. 

And yet, and yet, some mistakes take their toll.  They do so, however, with a cumulative effect – one after another debilitates as does cumulative radiation exposure.   

Look at Whitewater over the last decade, and consider those officials who departed with a limp, so to speak: Boden, Coan, Steinhaus, Brunner.  With the exception of Steinhaus, each was celebrated (if only by his own account) as a great or visionary leader sometime during his respective tenure. 

They each had kerfuffles during their time in local office, and perhaps thought that getting past them was a sign of success.   At the moment, perhaps; over time, not at all.

Written criticism played no meaningful role in their respective departures; it was their own poor choices that undermined their roles in the community. 

They all seemed strong, at least for a bit, until they weren’t strong at all.  Some of them saw this coming (and so in each case did a growing number of residents), but for others it was a surprise. 

It’s not day-in, day-out that makes a difference: it’s the years-long, cumulative effect of poor choices. 

The way to avoid accumulated injury is to avoid the same harmful, repetitive motions.

It’s the long-run, and not the sort-term, matters. 

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