There’s a new political group, Forward Whitewater, recently formed in the city. The organization has its own Facebook page. (Note: I’ve been a libertarian critic of Gov. Walker, but I have no connection to Forward Whitewater.)
Here’s the description and mission of the group, from Facebook:
Description —
Forward Whitewater is a group of citizens from the city of Whitewater and the surrounding area, dedicated to opposing the radical agenda put forth by Governor Scott Walker and Republicans in the state legislature. We welcome members of any party (or no party) who wish to stand up for democracy in Wisconsin.
Mission —
Educate the public about Gov. Walker’s budget repair bill, as well as his proposed biennial budget, and how they will affect Wisconsin workers and families.
Recall Scott Walker and Republicans in the legislature in order to put Wisconsin’s government back in the hands of the people.
I’ve written before about the balance between conservatives and progressives in the city. See, Why Whitewater Isn’t a Progressive City; Why Whitewater’s ‘Conservatives’ Hold the City Tenuously.
A few quick points.
1. There’s no other group like Forward Whitewater specific to the city, for either the left or right.
2. Although there are both Republican and Democratic groups in the city, they’re not particularly visible (especially off campus).
3. The conservative Tea Party group, the Rock River Patriots, is more active than any GOP group in the city. The Patriots cover an area greater than Whitewater; there’s no group in Whitewater alone that’s like them.
4. Many conservatives in Whitewater aren’t market conservatives — they’re simply right-of-center defenders of the status quo. Look at them closely, and they are less like Reagan and more like Nixon. They advocate any number of big projects, not to help ordinary people, but as much for their own self-promotion as anything else.
Some of them have been at the epicenter of fiscal quake after quake (TID 4, the wasteful Innovation Center, etc.). They’re shameless, though, so they move from mistake to mistake, lying about their errors while spending taxpayers’ money on new errors-to-be.
It’s unfair to call people like this true conservatives — they’re not big on conserving other people’s money, for example.
5. There’s no practical difference between stodgy town squires of this ilk and an official like Whitewater’s city manager. In main consequence, he’s indistinguishable from many defensive, status-quo town squires.
That’s what makes all this unexpected — it’s not Whitewater’s habit to have grassroots political groups — and I’m not sure what will come of this effort. A grassroots group that’s critical of the governor will be met with some considerable consternation from Whitewater’s town fathers. They’re suspicious of advocacy, expression, and protests.
In this regard, they think little of ordinary people. They’d much prefer Whitewater as a collaborative enterprise of a few dozen people, with a few hundred cheerleaders beyond that. That’s their secret — despite what they say, they’ve little more than a few hundred committed supporters, out of all the city, even after all these years. (Libertarians, by contrast, are among those who believe most deeply and optimistically in the power of ordinary people — free from government, free from any elite’s supposed guidance — to accomplish great things.)
A grassroots political effort of this kind — and others that may follow (right or left) — would be common, expected, and a sign of good health in other communities. I think it’s a sign of those positive things in Whitewater, too.
We’ll see what Old Whitewater thinks of this. It’s New Whitewater they’ll be seeing, and about which they’ll be thinking.