Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 56. Sunrise is 7:10 and sunset is 6:09 for 10 hours 59 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waxing crescent with 39.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1777, British General John Burgoyne surrenders his army at Saratoga, New York: “The American victory was an enormous morale boost to the fledgling nation. More importantly, it convinced France to enter the war in alliance with the United States, openly providing money, soldiers, and munitions, as well as fighting a naval war worldwide against Britain.”
Whitewater is not simply a small college town in Wisconsin. She is a small college town in Wisconsin in America. America, over these recent centuries, is a dynamic, productive market economy. Indeed, a market economy is inherently more dynamic than its alternatives, and through its dynamism is productive to the benefit of all.
There are in this city a few aged men, satisfied with their station in life, who would prefer that nothing change for anyone else. This approach fits poorly in a city that’s part of a state that’s part of a continent-wide commercial republic. Whitewater does not set the pace for the American economy — America’s economy sets the pace for all the cities and states within its borders.
Those who don’t swim tread water only until they sink.
That’s why, this sunny Saturday morning, it’s encouraging to see that the City of Whitewater is responding and exhibiting the dynamism that our economic conditions require for success. Bid postings at the city’s website tell a positive tale:
These postings do not assure success (as no posting could). They reveal, however, the energetic approach — what’s next? what can we improve? what’s possible? — that governments and businesses responsive to possibility and improvement ask.
Markets do not have a final destination; graveyards are a final destination. Markets are ongoing journeys toward improvement in productivity and, therefore, living standards.
Cities that recognize this do better than cities that don’t. Whitewater is right to keep going on a path that aligns with the character of our society’s creative energy.
Four-legged investigators sniff out spotted lanternfly eggs to slow the spread of that invasive pest: