This is the sixth in a series on Whitewater’s local politics of 2021. There’s no politically predominant group in Whitewater. Strictly speaking, a subculture implies a dominant culture, but it’s less dramatic to describe Whitewater as several subcultures than as balkanized. One might call the city multicultural, but that term often implies an acceptance of…
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City, Local Government, Politics, School District, Whitewater's Local Politics 2021
Whitewater’s Local Politics 2021: The City’s Center-Left
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
This is the third in a series on Whitewater’s local politics of 2021. There’s a joke that a Democrat told me at the turn of the century about Democrats in Whitewater: “Do you know who’s the head of the Whitewater Democrats? No? Well, neither do we.” Those days are long past. The Great Recession (‘07-‘09),…
Local Government, Politics, School District
6 Asides Before the Local Spring Elections in Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
Assorted remarks on local politics before next week’s local election —- Spring. While one might normally prefer fall, spring is notably welcome this year. It has been, for so many, a difficult year. Some of us have come through it well (as we have from the Great Recession, opioid epidemic, and economic stagnation), but our…
City, Economy, University, UW System
The Bad Economy Isn’t Causing Good Enrollment Numbers
by JOHN ADAMS • • 5 Comments
Catherine Rampell observes Tough economies usually push people into more education. It’s not happening this time. She writes that Usually, postsecondary enrollment increases during tough economies, as workers seek shelter from the lousy job market and invest in upgrading their skills. This can be a (small) silver lining of downturns: If displaced workers choose wisely…
Babbittry, Boosterism, Conflicts of Interest, Culture, Disinformation, Local Government, Mendacity, Negligence, Politics, Public Relations, Reasoning, School District, Self-Dealing, That Which Paved the Way, Trump, Trumpism, University
Consequences, Accountability, Repentance, Redemption
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
David Frum, writing of Trump & Trumpism in The Conservative Cult of Victimhood, observes that There is no redemption without repentance. There is no repentance without accountability. There is no accountability without consequences. He rightly concludes that for the Trumpists, the absence of a moral order of accountability and repentance has meant that Even as Trump commits…
Aside, City, Coronavirus, Culture, Economy
For Whitewater, the Pandemic Reveals What Was Already There
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
For Whitewater – and other places – the pandemic hasn’t changed contemporary politics or culture, it has revealed plainly the character of contemporary politics and culture: divided, debilitated. Whitewater’s meaningful changes began years ago, with the Great Recession (2007-2009). For small towns like Whitewater, that recession never ended. It’s as if a man with poor…
City, Local Government
Work to Be Done (Updated)
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Updated: Sunday afternoon, 12.20.20. Over these dozen years, many dozens of officials – in city government, in the school district, and at the university – have come and gone from Whitewater. Some who saw themselves, and declared themselves, irreplaceable have long since been replaced. The city has changed much since the Great Recession, and is…
Budget, City, Demographics, Government Spending, University, UW System, Wisconsin
UW-Whitewater’s Budgetary Challenges Require a Studied Approach
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Whitewater is a college town. If a college town, then a college: the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. I’ve written about the university now and again. A simple summary of my views would be that Whitewater benefits from having a university, but that the school’s leaders (notably Telfer and Kopper) have failed both individuals and the community.…
City, Coronavirus, Economy
What Changes After the Pandemic?
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Megan McArdle, writing at the Washington Post, speculates about What changes after covid-19? I’m betting on everything. She’s thinking about the other side of the pandemic, when the worst has subsided, and we are no longer here but instead there. Her forecast focuses on technological changes likely in the wake of the COVID-19: But on closer…
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 12.5.20
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. Saturday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of thirty-eight. Sunrise is 7:11 AM and sunset 4:20 PM, for 9h 09m 43s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 75.5% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1879, Humane Society of Wisconsin is organized in Milwaukee. …
Babbittry, Boosterism, City, Culture
Boosterism’s Cousin, Toxic Positivity
by JOHN ADAMS • • 6 Comments
In political life, boosterism is the overzealous promotion of officials or programs while ignoring actual conditions (particularly conditions of the disadvantaged). It’s wrong and repulsive. (An acknowledgement worth making: I have never criticized boosterism because of a personal concern. My life is comfortable; objections to political boosterism are deep-seated in me as a matter of learning.) Civilizations…
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 10.19.20
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. Monday in Whitewater will partly cloudy a high of forty-four. Sunrise is 7:14 AM and sunset 6:08 PM, for 10h 49m 48s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 10.3% of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Library Board meets via audiovisual conferencing at 6:30 PM. On this day in 1781,…
Budget, CDA, City, Government Spending, Local Government, Open Government
Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 10.6.20: 9 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
The Whitewater Common Council last met on 10.6.20. The agenda for the meeting is available, and a recording of the early October session appears above. (As always, the best record is a recording.) Council discussed, among other items, Trick or Treating during the pandemic, a preliminary city budget, whether to return to in-person council meetings,…
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 10.4.20
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. Sunday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of fifty-two. Sunrise is 6:57 AM and sunset 6:29 PM, for 11h 32m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 93.9% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1582, the Gregorian Calendar is introduced by Pope Gregory XIII.…