Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 59. Sunrise is 7:15 AM and sunset 6:03 PM for 10h 48m 23s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 24.7% of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater School District’s Policy Review Committee meets at 9 AM, and Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1944, American general Douglas MacArthur fulfills his promise to return to the Philippines when he comes ashore during the Battle of Leyte.
There are many important roles within a community: most are private (countless jobs and pursuits), some are public (safety & emergency services most obviously). For libertarians, in particular, watching the role of government — that it should be limited, responsible, and open — is an evergreen commitment.
Beyond a few defined and limited public tasks, beyond even the myriad of ordinary private tasks, some communities face a critical need for repair, reconciliation, and recovery. Most private communities are not in this condition, but others (as in the Midwest since the Great Recession) are afflicted in this way.
Whitewater, beautiful but in difficulty, finds herself with a critical need for repair, reconciliation, and recovery. A small community, yet now divided in politics, troubled in socio-economics, and beset with tensions & controversies, needs a medicine effective for her maladies.
Politicians, appointed officials, public employees, concerned private residents, journalists who occasionally notice the town, the libertarian blogger who writes here: all matter in their own ways, but neither one nor all is enough now.
Whitewater needs someone else, someone who will pull this beautiful city together again in a unique way. That task will be neither easy nor quiet: occasionally breaking a few eggs, and egos, to make an omelette. (A role that would reunite the community would be both transcendent of others’ roles, yet responsive to individuals as individuals, residents as residents. One woman fulfilling a non-partisan, charitable role would be more helpful to our city than dozen silly men imagining themselves ‘Mr. Whitewater.’)
These are not new concerns at FREE WHITEWATER. See Waiting for Whitewater’s Dorothy Day and An Oasis Strategy.
From that latter post:
This city’s not of one culture or one identity; we’re not a homogeneous place. We’re a diverse and multicultural community. Revanchism on behalf of some won’t make the city great for any. On the contrary, that path will prolong present difficulties, and delay significantly (although not prevent) this city’s more prosperous future.
In even the most difficult times, of economic and political trouble, Americans have still produced great works, committed to charitable undertakings, and carried on admirably (all the while addressing national issues separately). This city can do the same, as well as others before us did in their challenging times.
A restorative cure for Whitewater would be the arrival of a transcendent, persistent, vocal, committed, private charitable worker. We may find ourselves with a long wait.
Until then, public policy, with whatever can be done after providing for basic public services, should be directed responsively to people in need.
Humpback Whale Surprises Father-Son Fishing Duo: