FREE WHITEWATER

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 1-22-10

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Good morning,

Today’s Whitewater forecast calls for a cloudy day, with a high of thirty-three degrees.

There’s no school today, leaving the community to face free-range juveniles throughout the city. We’ll muddle through, I’m sure.

On this day in 1950, according to Wired, a true innovator is acquitted: “Jan. 22, 1950: Jury Acquits Tucker of Fraud.”

Along with seven business associates, Preston Tucker — founder and namesake of the Tucker Car Corporation and the creator of the ultramodern Tucker ’48 sedan — is found not guilty of 25 counts of mail fraud, five counts of violating SEC rules and a single count of conspiracy to defraud.

The company, however, would not survive the bad press and production delays that the trial imposed. The name “Tucker” would become synonymous with a failed business dream….

Tucker, an automotive enthusiast and charismatic entrepreneur, had promised the public something pretty radical: a new car that was to be a total departure from prewar designs. The sedan would have a rear engine, a laminate windshield, side-impact protection and a trademark center headlight that turned with the front wheels — a feature that became a trademark of the Tucker’s appearance….

The SEC raided the Tucker plant on May 28, 1948, forcing Tucker to cease production and lay off 1,600 employees. The trial began October 4, with the prosecution trying to prove that Tucker never meant to build a car and that the sole intent of Tucker Car Corporation was to defraud investors.

Tucker’s defense attorneys argued that the Tucker was ready for mass production and that the company would have never built a plant and hired employees if it had only been a fraud. A former Tucker dealer, while testifying for the prosecution, inadvertently won favor for Tucker when he said his own ’48 sedan was the “finest car I have ever driven.” Attorneys even parked eight Tucker ‘48s in front of the courthouse and offered jurors the opportunity to take a ride.

After 28 hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on all charges. The unflappable Tucker famously told the press that “even Henry Ford failed the first time out.” Sadly, though Tucker would attempt to build another sports car with investors from Brazil, he died of lung cancer in 1956. Today, fewer than 50 complete Tuckers still exist, most of them in private collections.

Conspiracy theories surrounding the investigation abound, many of which added to the drama of the mostly historically accurate Tucker biopic, Tucker: The Man and His Dream. While a David-versus-Goliath story always makes a good movie, many people today think the Tucker Car Corporation always intended to build a car, and that the Big Three automakers — fearing competition from an upstart competitor — were behind the SEC’s investigation of Tucker.

Here’s the trailer from Tucker: The Man and His Dream:

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL-AFSAIln0 more >>

City, Planning, Press

On Whitewater, Wisconsin’s Recent Bond Rating

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Whitewater City Manager Kevin Brunner recently touted an A2 rating from Moody’s Investor Services. It’s what he didn’t say that’s most telling.

In his January 15th Weekly Report, Whitewater City Manager Kevin Brunner announced an affirmation from Moody’s Investor Services of the city’s A2 bond rating. The city’s rating is assigned to the sale of million dollars in bonds, of two different types. The bonds are public debt, that the city must repay with interest. Brunner included the Moody’s announcement, with his own preface, in his weekly report.  

Here are my remarks, with the full announcement from Brunner appearing at the bottom of this post, for reference.

Moody’s rating of ‘A’ is actually a common rating — over half of municipalities rated have received it over a thirty-year period.

The A2 rating that Whitewater received (as re-affirmation) isn’t exceptional — it’s common. Moody’s rates municipal bond investments on a broad category scale as follows: Aaa, Aa, A, Baa, Ba, and so on. Within a category, such as ‘A,’ there’s additional differentiation between A1, A2, etc.

In the thirty-year period between 1970 and 2000, of the municipal bond investments Moody’s rated, over 54% were rated as ‘A.’ That’s right — over half. It’s hardly an exceptional rating — ‘A’ is the most common rating as a broad category across an entire generation of Moody’s ratings. See, Moody’s US Municipal Bond Rating Scale.

Here’s Moody’s own distribution chart, reproduced as Fair Use commentary:

Whitewater’s in the middle, with a rating like most others.  It’s certainly not exemplary.

Not only that, but Whitewater’s investments received an A2 rating, less than some others (that is, A1) within the most common category of ratings. We’re in the middle of the middle, so to speak — no better than typical.

That’s how Whitewater rated, but the Whitewater city manager’s announcement tells nothing of the the commonplace nature of the rating. On the contrary, one would think that the city had won some sort of prestigious honor.

Even a steak sauce does better:


There’s a habit in Whitewater to insist that pig’s ears are silk purses. No bother trying to make one from the other – here insistence alone is enough.

Moody’s — receives compensation for any solicited rating — only unsolicited ratings require no payment to Moody’s.

There’s much that has been written about the benefits and risks of solicited and unsolicited sets of ratings. Of this one can say with certainty that where the rating is solicited, the firm has received compensation for its services, but gains access to records it requests. Where the rating is unsolicited, the firm rates without financial interest, but bases the rating only on public information.

A solicited, and supposedly objective analysis in these issues comes for a price; the success of an issue may depend on the rating. Everybody involved in these transactions knows as much.

The bond rating depends most on the city’s ability to repay the bond issue with interest. Analyses of the actual conditions of residents are secondary to the ability of the city to tax to repay the debt with interest.

In this regard, Brunner’s like a man who buys a pricey suit and assumes that the purchase proves he’s in good health.  There is, of course, more room to tax – after all, it was Brunner who recently proposed an increase in the tax levy, in the middle of a deep recession, until Common Council saw better than to heap burdens on the city’s residents.  Residents would have been worse off if he had his way.

Moody’s analysis shows how much Whitewater depends on the university, rather than city-sponsored projects, for its stability and survival.

Even a casual glance at the Moody’s report — and Brunner must have done as much — reveals that Moody’s fundamentally bases its rating on the obvious truth that

city’s economy is dominated by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus. While the associated property is tax-exempt and consequently unavailable as a taxable resource, Moody’s believes that the stability and employment opportunities that it affords local residents are significant positive credit factors. The university is by far the largest employer with over 1,000 employees and enrollment has hit a record level of approximately 11,000 students. The school continues to expand and, as evidence, has recently opened a new business school and residence halls this fall. In 2008 the value of the city’s building permits swelled due to a $30 million university construction project.

These aren’t accomplishments of city government — the campus props up the town.  I’ve argued as much for years.  The City of Whitewater may thank the State of Wisconsin for whatever opportunity we have.  These are not accomplishments of the city’s politicians and bureaucrats.

The rating’s analysis shows that we lag Wisconsin and America.

Both Madison and Milwaukee — even Milwaukee, with all her troubles – have higher ratings.   Whitewater’s median family income trails Wisconsin, and unemployment is over the state average.  No mention of child poverty, by the way — a figure that would not be affected by the presence of students (the presence of which Moody’s uses as an excuse to explain Whitewater’s below-average income statistics.)

Our rate of child poverty is astonishingly high — about one in four children.  A taxpayer funded tech park that relies on a taxpayer-funded agency as an anchor tenant will do nothing for them.

The rating ignores alternatives to borrowing.

Understandably, Moody’s merely reviews if the city can pay back a multi-million obligation, even if it has to tax more to do so.  I am sure that there is more to take from common residents — even the Sheriff of Nottingham could find an additional farthing or two from some ordinary person in Sherwood Forest.

There’s no analysis of whether this is the right plan and course for Whitewater.  The alternatives to the plan of a few middling bureaucrats’ vain ambitions to gobble as much stimulus money as possible, with additional debt heaped on the city as a result, are beyond Moody’s scope.

About Whitewater’s “successful use of tax increment districts (TIDs), including five additional TIDs established in 2007…”

Did someone write Moody’s analysis on April 1st?  It’s not even a suitable fool’s day joke.  If all the tax incremental districts were so successful, why would city manager Brunner bother to write, in his preface to his proposed 2010 budget, that “I also want the Finance Director to evaluate possible city debt savings through restructuring/refinancing. This will be especially critical in the next few months if the distressed TID legislation is approved by the State Legislature as expected and we will be look at how TID #4 could be extended beyond its current life.”

Moody’s analyst, you might want to call 911: Whitewater TID 4 may need a defibrillator, a distressed TID bill, something…

The local press coverage of the bond rating.

One can see an unquestioning view of public officials over at a local newspaper.   (Too funny, especially, is Brunner going on about how it would be unrealistic to expect the rating to be higher. Well, he’s right about at least one thing.)

Ultimately, crowing over a commonplace rating, and ignoring the very words that show Whitewater lags behind, serves not Whitewater, but advances only one bureaucrat’s overweening vanity.

From the city manager’s Weekly Report:

City Receives A2 Bond Rating for Upcoming Borrowing for Technology Park Development

Earlier this week, Moody’s Investor Services issued the following report on the city’s finances and continued to assign an A2 rating to the city bond issues that are scheduled for sale next Tuesday. Given the current economy and municipal financial difficulties, maintaining existing bond ratings can be difficult with a number of downgrades and only a very few upgrades occurring. Reading the report is very interesting and provides a good objective review of our community and its financial condition.

NEW YORK, January 13, 2010 —

Moody’s Investors Service has assigned an A2 rating to the City of Whitewater’s (WI) $3.3 million Taxable General Obligation Community Development Bonds, which will be offered as Build America Bonds, and $2.1 million General Obligation Refunding Bonds. Concurrently, Moody’s has affirmed the A2 rating on the city’s outstanding general obligation debt affecting $14.1 million. Both the taxable and tax-exempt bonds are secured by the city’s general obligation unlimited tax pledge. The community development bonds will finance infrastructure improvements within the city’s technology park (tax increment financing district four). The tax-exempt bonds will refinance three state loans and two privately placed loans for a net present value savings. The A2 rating reflects the city’s sound financial position, stable local economy significantly anchored by a state university, and manageable debt profile.

LOCAL ECONOMY DOMINATED BY STATE UNIVERSITY EXPECTED TO REMAIN STABLE

Whitewater is favorably located 45 miles southeast of Madison (general obligation rated Aaa/stable outlook) and 55 miles southwest of Milwaukee (rated Aa2/negative outlook). The city’s economy is dominated by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus. While the associated property is tax-exempt and consequently unavailable as a taxable resource, Moody’s believes that the stability and employment opportunities that it affords local residents are significant positive credit factors. The university is by far the largest employer with over 1,000 employees and enrollment has hit a record level of approximately 11,000 students. The school continues to expand and, as evidence, has recently opened a new business school and residence halls this fall. In 2008 the value of the city’s building permits swelled due to a $30 million university construction project.

The city’s tax base is moderately-sized at $639 million, though this excludes the university campus, and growth over the last five years has been somewhat measured, averaging 5.1% increases annually. The city has encouraged diversity and growth through the successful use of tax increment districts (TIDs), including five additional TIDs established in 2007. Wealth indices are skewed downward given the presence of the large student population which accounts for 78% of the population. While the per capita income figures reflect the impact of the substantial student population (65.7% of the state average), the median family income is much stronger at 91.1% of the state average. Walworth County’s (general obligation rated Aa2) unemployment rate of 7.8% in October 2009 was slightly higher that than of the state and nation.

SOUND FINANCIAL POSITION SUPPORTED BY CONSERVATIVE MANAGEMENT

Moody’s expects the city to maintain a sound financial position due to prudent management evidenced by relatively healthy reserves. Over the last five years, the city has maintained essentially balanced operations with the exceptions of fiscal 2004 and 2008. In fiscal 2004, the city drew down its reserves by $584,000 due to a one time expenditure of $623,770 to retire the city’s unfunded pension liability. In fiscals 2005, 2006 and 2007 the city’s General Fund balance remained stable at $2.5 million, equal to 29.5% of fiscal 2007revenues. The city realized a deficit of $197,000 in fiscal 2008 due to higher than expected expenditures related to snow and ice removal early in the year and flood clean-up over the summer. While the city did receive about $100,000in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimbursement, the funds did not cover the entire out-of-pocket amount spent by the city. Officials report that fiscal 2009 year-end results will likely reflect a slight deficit of up to$68,000, though a portion of this is expected to be offset by unspent contingency funds. The city had budgeted the use of about $68,500 in reserves in fiscal 2009 to meet operational costs. Notably, the city did not implement any staff reductions or furloughs. In fiscal 2010 the city’s state shared revenue is expected to decline by $68,000, the city reduced its General Fund levy, and $75,000 of General Fund reserves were applied to the budget. Favorably, over $90,000 was budgeted as a contingency expenditure (equal to 1% of the budget) and, due to unused taxing margin year after year, the city can roll forward about $360,000. Although the city applies a modest amount of reserves to the budget each year, management expects to adhere to its General Fund balance policy of maintaining a minimum of 20% of the subsequent year’s budget.

more >>

Economy, Free Markets, Planning

Wall Street Journal: The U.S. Isn’t as Free as It Used to Be

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No, it’s not, is it?

The United States is losing ground to its major competitors in the global marketplace, according to the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom released today by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. This year, of the world’s 20 largest economies, the U.S. suffered the largest drop in overall economic freedom. Its score declined to 78 from 80.7 on the 0 to 100 Index scale.

The U.S. lost ground on many fronts. Scores declined in seven of the 10 categories of economic freedom. Losses were particularly significant in the areas of financial and monetary freedom and property rights. Driving it all were the federal government’s interventionist responses to the financial and economic crises of the last two years, which have included politically influenced regulatory changes, protectionist trade restrictions, massive stimulus spending and bailouts of financial and automotive firms deemed “too big to fail.” These policies have resulted in job losses, discouraged entrepreneurship, and saddled America with unprecedented government deficits.

See, The U.S. Isn’t as Free as It Used to Be.

Libertarians

Shelby Steele on Reagan

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From Shelby Steele’s essay, “Obama and Our Post-Modern Race Problem,” where Steele comments on Reagan:

Reagan reached the White House through a great deal of what is called “individuating”—that is he took principled positions throughout his long career that jeopardized his popularity, and in so doing he came to know who he was as a man and what he truly believed.

He became Ronald Reagan through dissent, not conformity. And when he was finally elected president, it was because America at last wanted the vision that he had evolved over a lifetime of challenging conventional wisdom. By the time Reagan became president, he had fought his way to a remarkable certainty about who he was, what he believed, and where he wanted to lead the nation.

So very true: In this was the strength of Reagan, and an example for common people.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 1-21-10

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Good morning,

The forecast for Whitewater calls for a chance of freezing drizzle, and a high of thirty-one degrees.

It’s market day pickup at Lincoln School today.

Tonight, at 7 PM, the League of Women Voters will have a program on the U.S. Census, in the Common Council chambers in the municipal building.

In Wisconsin History on this date, the Wisconsin Historical Society recalls a particular crime spree from 1935, from nearby Janesville:

1935 – Five Janesville Youths Arrested

On this date five Janesville boys, ages 13-16, were arrested for a string of burglaries, including the thefts of cigarettes, whisky and blankets. While in the police station, one of the boys tried to crack the safe in the chief’s office. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

The account offers no additional detail; we don’t know what happened to the would-be safe cracker, or the others. For the safe-cracker — a combination of audacity and foolishness that one seldom sees.

City, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Planning, Press

On the Innovation Center’s Anchor Tenant

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Small-town Whitewater is spending about eleven million dollars in federal money and municipal debt for a Technology Park, with a showcase Innovation Center. The amount is more than the annual budget of the city, and it’s federal deficit spending, and municipal public debt, that will make this project possible.

(Note: I will comment generally on the bond issue for the project, and the rating attached to it, tomorrow.)

Here’s an artist’s depiction of the planned Innovation Center:

It’s stylish in a contemporary way.

The Innovation Center has been looking for an anchor tenant, and now it has one: CESA 2, a Cooperative Educational Service Agency.

Here’s the announcement from Whitewater’s city manager, Kevin Brunner:

Anchor Tenant for Whitewater Innovation Center Confirmed This Week

The Cooperative Education Services Administration (CESA) District 2 Board approved a ten-year lease this week for space in the new Whitewater Innovation Center. CESA 2 will be an anchor tenant for the Center and will lease about 10,000 square feet in the new building which is scheduled for construction beginning in early spring.

CESA 2, which is currently leasing space in Milton, provides educational support and training services for over 70 school districts in southern Wisconsin. CESA 2 is expected to bring over 50 full and part-time employees to work at the Innovation Center as well as host daily teacher and administrator training sessions that typically have between 20 and 100 attendees.

As a member of the Whitewater Technology Center Board of Directors, I am very excited about having CESA 2 come to Whitewater and the new Innovation Center. CESA 2 will bring a lot of economic activity and jobs to the community as well as the Whitewater University Technology Park.

What’s CESA? It’s a forty-seven year old state-created agency “to assist districts in providing quality educational opportunities for students….[to] help school districts share staff, services and
purchasing, and provide a link between local districts and the state.”

Much of the work that CESA performs concerns laudable services to schools, including special education students. The CESA branch serving our community is CESA 2. Our CESA serves a large number of districts.

More about CESA is available at the following link:

http://www.cesa2.k12.wi.us/about/

A few observations on choice of this anchor tenant, for the Tech Park’s Innovation Center.

What’s an Innovation Center and Tech Park?

When one thinks of technology, and innovation, one typically thinks of pioneering American companies, that created products or services that were attractive, and from that attraction, whole new fields and opportunities arose. There’s a good reason for this — America has excelled at this sort of private, entrepreneurial initiative time and again.

For it, we are the envy of the world.

It distorts and stretches the meaning of both innovation and technology to apply it to any organization, anywhere, at any time.

There’s a way, of course — empty and thin — that one might describe most activity as technology-related. One might say that because a taxi company uses two-way radios, it’s a technology-based company.

One might also say that a company whose employees have found a better use for a photocopier in their building has been innovative. Before, they might have stapled documents after copying them; now, they’ve discovered that the photocopier can staple documents for them. That’s hardly an innovation as one would reasonably define it.

In the end, calling something an Innovation Center, or a Technology Park, does not make it so. Yet, the name sounds fancy, surely. The value of the park should depend on the work done, and not the name.

The City of Whitewater might as well have produced an even grander name, something like Genius Enclave, if inapplicability were the goal.

It’s so very characteristic of a limited perspective that one hears about jobs (in this case relocated, not new ones) but not about the cost of those jobs, and whether this community benefits from this multi-million dollar projects as against other possibilities (e.g., tax reduction, reduction of regulations).

There’s also something insubstantial about a bureaucrat insisting that a tenant will produce a ‘synergy’ – that is, literally, interaction of two elements such that the total result is greater than the sum of the two. (See, Brunner’s comments in the interview to which I link, below.)

Easy to say, of course, and saying so sounds very modern. It’s much harder to verify.

Without verification, it’s just another smooth-sounding word, unsubstantiated.

CESA 2 is not a Reasonable Choice for a Tech Park Anchor Tenant

CESA is, I am sure, a fine organization. It’s just not a technology concern, and it never will be, by any reasonable definition. It’s not even a private organization — CESA itself discloses that

“[t]he leading source of CESA funds, in all cases, was revenue from member school districts which totaled $68.1 million, or 63% of all monies received. Revenue from federal ($16.7 million, 15% of the total) and state governments [sic] ($14 million, 13%) were the other major sources of funds.”

CESA isn’t a technology concern — not one bit. It’s a state-mandated agency, feeding from tax dollars, that will fill up space in a technology park built on tax dollars and public debt. I’m sure they do good work; it’s just not a tech enterprise.

Our great find of an anchor tenant amounts to giving a taxpayer-dependent agency about one-quarter of the space in a taxpayer-funded Innovation Center.

We’ve created nothing new and innovative — we’ve relocated an agency from its current location in Milton, Wisconsin. I would say that their loss is our gain, but then Milton’s not spending millions for all of this.

Carts Before Horses.

When a park for technology comes before the demand of technology companies for space in Whitewater, bureaucrats will scramble to fill the place with any tenant. Having departed from a commitment to following private demand, and thus addressing true community needs, the City of Whitewater embarks on a presumptuous project from a few middling bureaucrats and their back-patting supporters.

There’s a story about all this, over at the Daily Union. See, CESA 2 tenant for Tech Park. The story mentions other matters, some of which I will address tomorrow. The story presents unquestioningly Brunner’s opinions on the topics therein. This is unsurprising: it’s part of our sad, local tradition toward officials, and what one fading paper did for so long another now does.

There’s nothing surprising in this – it’s very much to be expected, about the project, its description from Whitewater officials, and in press accounts.

Uncategorized

Daily Bread for Whitewater, WI: 1-20-10

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Good morning,

The forecast for Whitewater today is for a wintry mix — snow, freezing drizzle, and sleet — with a high of 30 degrees.

Friends of the Mounds, a group encouraging people to help maintain and preserve Whitewater’s only archaeological site, the Whitewater Indian Mounds Archaeological Park on Indian Mounds Parkway meets tonight at 7 PM in the Community Room at the Irvin L. Young Library.

At Washington School, there’s a fifth grade band concert today, at 2 PM and again at 7 PM. At the Middle School, there’s a PTO meeting at 7 PM.

City, Press Release

New Whitewater Archaeological Group: Friends of the Mounds

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We have the great fortune in Whitewater of an archaeological site. A group has formed to help preserve that site.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission is

encouraging people to help maintain and preserve Whitewater’s only archaeological site, the Whitewater Indian Mounds Archaeological Park on Indian Mounds Parkway, by joining the Friends of the Mounds.

The first meeting is on Wednesday, January 20, at 7 PM in the Community Room at the Irvin L. Young Library. To learn more, we hope people will come to the meeting and bring their ideas and suggestion for events such as tours, speakers, fundraisers and work projects.

Development, Economy, Free Markets, Libertarians

Reason: Luck and Virtue in America and Haiti

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Over at Reason.com, Steve Chapman writes about the earthquake in Haiti, and about prosperity in America, in an article entitled, Luck and Virtue in America and Haiti: Understanding the impact of the Haitian earthquake. From his essay:

I look after the trees in my yard, making sure they get water, checking them periodically for signs of distress, and getting them treated as necessary. Such care may be virtuous on my part, but I can’t claim much credit for the trees around my house or my leafy suburban community. They owe their existence mostly to people who came before me.

There is no question that our society is superior to Haiti’s in almost everything that touches on human well-being. Americans need not feel bashful about acknowledging this fact. But we should resist the temptation to assume that because we on average are more productive, disciplined, future-oriented, and law-abiding than Haitians, we as individuals are somehow superior to them.

Our society achieves those qualities because it rewards them. If Haitian society did the same, Haitians would develop them as well. Placed in the appalling conditions that afflict most Haitians, we would not necessarily do better than they do, and we might well do worse.

Americans tend to regard themselves as masters of our own destiny, which is partly true and highly useful to believe. We often forget that most of what allows us to succeed was bequeathed by history: a stable, democratic government based on the rule of law; a dynamic economic system rooted in personal freedom and secure property rights; a tradition of self-reliance and individual responsibility; and a faith in our capacity for progress.

We can congratulate ourselves on preserving those assets. But it’s a lot harder to create such valuable commodities than to preserve them. It’s especially hard for people who come into this world with the cruel, overwhelming handicaps borne by the people of Haiti. While our past is a blessing, theirs is a burden.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 1-19-10

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Good morning,

The weather forecast for today calls for areas of patchy fog, with a high of twenty-nine.

In the City of Whitewater today, there will be a meeting of the Whitewater University Tech Park Board at 3 PM at the municipal building.  Later, at 6:30 PM, there will be a meeting of the Common Council.

There will be a band concert at Lincoln (Elementary) School, home of the Leopards, at 2 PM and again at 6 PM.

The Wisconsin Historical Society notes that today is no ordinary day in Wisconsin, and surely not in nearby Fort Atkinson:

1939 – Chicken Plucking World Record

On January 19, 1939 Ernest Hausen (1877 – 1955) of Ft. Atkinson set the world’s record for chicken plucking. [Source: Guiness Book of World’s Records, 1992]

Daily Bread, Holiday

Daily Bread for Whitewater, Wisconsin: 1-18-10 (King Day)

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Good morning,

It’s a foggy day for Whitewater, with a predicted high of thirty-one degrees.

At our high school, it’s the end of the quarter.  Tonight, there’s a music parents meeting scheduled at the high school for 6:30 PM.

All America knows it’s a federal holiday today, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.

From King’s The American Dream, delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, on 4 July 1965:

….And so this morning I would like to use as a subject from which to preach: “The American Dream.” (Yes, sir)

It wouldn’t take us long to discover the substance of that dream. It is found in those majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, words lifted to cosmic proportions: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by God, Creator, with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” This is a dream. It’s a great dream.

The first saying we notice in this dream is an amazing universalism. It doesn’t say “some men,” it says “all men.” It doesn’t say “all white men,” it says “all men,” which includes black men. It does not say “all Gentiles,” it says “all men,” which includes Jews. It doesn’t say “all Protestants,” it says “all men,” which includes Catholics. (Yes, sir) It doesn’t even say “all theists and believers,” it says “all men,” which includes humanists and agnostics.

Then that dream goes on to say another thing that ultimately distinguishes our nation and our form of government from any totalitarian system in the world. It says that each of us has certain basic rights that are neither derived from or conferred by the state. In order to discover where they came from, it is necessary to move back behind the dim mist of eternity. They are God-given, gifts from His hands. Never before in the history of the world has a sociopolitical document expressed in such profound, eloquent, and unequivocal language the dignity and the worth of human personality. The American dream reminds us, and we should think about it anew on this Independence Day, that every man is an heir of the legacy of dignity and worth….

You see, the founding fathers were really influenced by the Bible. The whole concept of the imago dei, as it is expressed in Latin, the “image of God,” is the idea that all men have something within them that God injected. Not that they have substantial unity with God, but that every man has a capacity to have fellowship with God. And this gives him a uniqueness, it gives him worth, it gives him dignity. And we must never forget this as a nation: there are no gradations in the image of God. Every man from a treble white to a bass black is significant on God’s keyboard, precisely because every man is made in the image of God. One day we will learn that. (Yes) We will know one day that God made us to live together as brothers and to respect the dignity and worth of every man….

And I tell you this morning, my friends, the reason we got to solve this problem here in America: Because God somehow called America to do a special job for mankind and the world. (Yes, sir, Make it plain) Never before in the history of the world have so many racial groups and so many national backgrounds assembled together in one nation. And somehow if we can’t solve the problem in America the world can’t solve the problem, because America is the world in miniature and the world is America writ large. And God set us out with all of the opportunities. (Make it plain) He set us between two great oceans; (Yes, sir) made it possible for us to live with some of the great natural resources of the world. And there he gave us through the minds of our forefathers a great creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (Yes, sir) are created equal.”

The link above includes audio of the full sermon Dr. King delivered that day.

Press Release

Press Release: John Adams to Run for Wisconsin’s 55th Congressional District

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The federal government, in an effort to publicize the effects of pork stimulus spending, published a list of the spending projects by United States Congressional District. The publication was deeply embarrassing to the incumbent federal administration, as many of the listed Congressional districts were previously unknown to anyone in Wisconsin, or anyone else in America.

Most of the criticism involved the obvious charge that the federal government failed to track properly the billions of tax dollars likely wasted on federal projects.

Please — this isn’t a problem of new spending; it’s an opportunity for heretofore undiscovered congressional districts. I read that in Ohio, a citizen has decided to run for one of his state’s previously unknown districts, and no one from Ohio will blaze a trail that someone in Wisconsin cannot shamelessly follow.

Today, Friday, January 15th, 2010, I officially announce my candidacy for the 55th Congressional District of Wisconsin. As no one has previously been able to locate the 55th district, I might as well describe its boundaries for my prospective constituents. Could I suggest that the borders of the 55th district are identical with those of City of Whitewater, Wisconsin?

Admittedly, this makes the district smaller than others in Wisconsin, but I will not insult the United States Congress, the current Administration, or even the stodgy town fathers of Whitewater by suggesting that smaller is necessarily less effective.

I offer my imaginary district the same illusory and feeble promises that actual politicians offer — only in my case, you won’t have to suffer through the inevitable voter’s remorse.

MY TEN POINT PLATFORM

1. Abolish the Departments of Energy, Education, and Interior, right off the bat. I’d list more cabinet departments for abolition, but carting off so many thousands of whining and crying bureaucrats will take at least a year. The employees of these federal departments will have to be re-aquatinted with (if they ever knew of) normal life and productive employment. That’s no easy task.

2. I will propose a 90% reduction in pay for all representatives, senators, and cabinet officers. I’d keep the president’s salary where it is, but cut the vice presidential salary completely. (There’s just no way the vice president shouldn’t be paying America for the privilege of occupying that office.)

3. I will introduce a bill to restrict, to 5% of current levels, the funds for mailings from representatives and senators. It’s just federal campaign funding for incumbents, sending announcements that are transparent attempts to boost visibility for re-election campaigns.

4. I will urge the Attorney General, Eric Holder, to relocate the all trials of Islamic terrorists from New York to Whitewater, Wisconsin. I see several advantages for the people of the 55th Wisconsin Congressional District:

a. Money and Jobs! Having a trial in Whitewater will significantly boost construction and employment. Forget about some namby pamby Innovation Center — imagine a FEDERAL COURT HOUSE in Whitewater! That’s big money, my fellow citizens. No way a federal judge is going to work out of a conventional building — they have lifetime tenure, and live like royalty. Like kings, with robes, too. A federal court house costs a fortune, and it would be a fortune spent right here in River City Whitewater. No more begging for a few million, here or there– we’ll be rolling in dough when the federal government gets done building a court house.

b. Safety for America! Look, millions of New Yorkers are concerned about trying vile, mass-murdering foreigners in New York. I am sympathetic to their concerns. Who knows what attention and reprisal attacks a New York trial would invite on New Yorkers? They deserve better than that.

The 55th Congressional District of Wisconsin would not incur a similar risk — there’s no way murderous Islamic fanatics know where we are. We might as well be on Pluto, for all it matters. Last summer, during road construction, we even had signs up, trying to direct Americans to find our town! No foreigner who spent his life plotting revenge on America from a landscape that looks like a bombed-out sandbox is ever going to find us.

Everyone knows where New York is, and most know where Guantanamo Bay is. We don’t even know where we are.

5. PBS. It’s just got to go. NPR, too. NPR must be the third-biggest cause of traffic accidents, after drunks and deer. How can anyone stay awake to those soporific tones? The end of NPR would be like an espresso shot for the nation.

6. Speed limits no more! Let’s abolish any federal speed limits, and stop federal pressure on states to comply with a speed limit (lest the state lose federal funding). Millions of Germans are driving really fast, in a place that’s just a cramped, musty terrarium compared to America. Eisenhower spent lots of taxpayer money on an interstate road system, and he didn’t do it to make the snail America’s new national symbol. Go, Driver. Go!

7. NASA. They’re doing okay with robot probes to Mars, but spending so much money on travel in Earth orbit, with such mediocre ship designs, is just an embarrassment. It’s time to turn human exploration over to the American private sector, and get NASA out of the human exploration gig. If we’re trying to have cool-looking spaceships and female astronauts in skimpy uniforms — and we damn well should be — NASA’s a poor option.

8. Offsets of Federal Funding. Sometimes, the federal government spends money on a town, or on a state (for the benefit of a town), only to find that the town’s spending other money in ridiculous ways. Why spend federal tax dollars, in effect, to subsidize dumb local projects? I would propose a reduction — in the following amounts — of any federal government spending on a town, or of a state (for the benefit of a town), for these reasons —

a. A reduction in federal funding of $100,000 for each day a municipal official spends public time on so-called ‘comprehensive planning.’

b. A reduction in federal funding of $250,000 for each day a municipal official spends public time on a federally-funded project without completing a prior, funded project.

The official will also have to write on a chalkboard, a hundred times over, the sentence “I will only waste taxes on one silly idea at a time.”

c. A reduction in federal funding of $500,000 for each and every time a municipal official travels to another city and rides around instead of working in his actual jurisdiction.

If the municipality receives insufficient amounts to cover these offsets, the federal government should require each city politician and bureaucrat to work washing dishes in the nearest federal employee cafeteria. They should have to eat the cafeteria’s food, too.

9. Campaign Finance Laws — None! Speak as you want, spend as you want to support the speech of others. Insiders have been skirting unfairly enforced laws, while others have been hit with fines and lawsuits. There shouldn’t be financial limits on political speech.

10. The Second Amendment — I support it. It’s as much a lawful provision as any other part of the constitution.

Bonus Platform Position, because my prospective constituents are worth more than an ordinary ten-point plan:

TID Spending Illegal. Time to put an end to local officials who want to feel big by hawking wasteful projects through taxpayer money. If small-town bureaucrats want to act like Donald Trump, they should do it with their own money. I’d also suggest they move to New York, and take lessons from that developer himself.

Those who have wasted tax incremental district funds should be incarcerated.

I wouldn’t, however, ever, ever, ever be so cruel as to suggest that they should serve their sentences in ordinary federal prisons.

Other federal prisoners shouldn’t have to put up with self-promoting bureaucrats yakking day and night about their dedication to the community when their schemes are mostly a dedication to their own sense of importance on somebody else’s dime.

The federal administration need not close Guantanamo Bay, ever – we can fill its space with both fanatics and with foreign terrorists.

I promise my fellow citizens, above all else, a level of imaginary dedication modeled after the service of actual politicians and bureaucrats from Whitewater, Wisconsin.