FREE WHITEWATER

Do you remember when Gen. MacArthur called for dedication to ‘Duty, Honor, Country, and Local Government’?

Do you remember when Gen. MacArthur called for dedication to ‘Duty, Honor, Country, and Local Government’?

Neither do I.

He called, of course, for dedication to Duty, Honor, Country.

It wouldn’t have occured to him to exhort a commitment to municipal government. America speaks – when she speaks most movingly – in the language of broad, often universal concepts.

Therein lies the insurmountable problem of local government’s recent call to reach a supposed ‘silent majority’ (to “benefit the silent majority instead of the vocal few.”): (1) Whitewater doesn’t have a stable, silent majority, (2) the kind of majorities that might form would not look like most people in government (proving disappointing to those who wrongly seek demographic homogeneity), and (3) majorities that form will do so around big issues, and won’t involve blanket support for local government.

See, along these lines, The Search for a Majority in Whitewater and The Search for a Majority in Whitewater (Identity Politics Won’t Get You There).

This recent call is telling, however, as an honest admission that local government does not have such a majority, and that even now (after decades of insistence that Whitewater was something like One City, One Culture, One View) local government and its cultural champions still seek the means even to discern a true majority.

(I’ve said before that it would be a bad bargain to trade an independent position for an alignment with most local insiders and their media boosters. Honest to goodness, this becomes more true each day.  Far from helping each other, the poor work of a few is simply pulling the others down.)

Majorities will form around deep convictions, but tens of millions for waste treatment upgrades, waste importation, or pricey street projects instead of simple repairs just won’t inspire (let alone uplift) this community. 

There’s the important point, however, to be made: the search for a majority will prove in vain if one does not present a worthy view, well and compellingly reasoned.

If one has such a view, then no number in initial opposition will prove insurmountable; if one lacks such a view, then no number in initial support will prove retainable.

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Attendee
8 years ago

Nail on the head. Welcome back to full form by the way. The big mistake in town has been insisting that agreement is obvious and mandatory for everyone. That’s okay for good times, but we are stuck with small growth tough times. Being connected was supposed to be a huge honor in an exclusive club. It’s not like that any more. I’ve seen how much things have changed. There has been a huge shift. Connections that used to mean quality don’t mean that any more.

Mr. Anonymous
8 years ago

The big problem is the insistence on unanimous opinion that you call “One City, One Culture, One View” Some old timers still think it works to describe WW that way. A lot of us you would call insiders/squires know it’s not realistic. It is like when someone uses an expression that is old fashioned such as neato or keen. To be fair there are efforts to go beyond that but not enough.The neato/keen group is a logjam.They have not kept up and it shows. Cameron wants traction with the public but there has been too much spending plus the idea to bring in trash for money is a loser. Lynn kept it going but that did Cameron no favors.They’re falling short on the basics so there’s no room for controversy.

Ayn Rand
8 years ago

Those words, that tone…
Yeah, you’re back.
🙂