Council had a busy agenda Tuesday night, and there’s much to consider from the meeting. For today, though, here are two points not about specific policies, but about policy generally.
First, Council Pres. Singer and Pres. Pro Tem Binnie were re-elected unanimously to those posts. That’s good for the city, as they’re steady in manner, in a city where steadiness is often hard to find. Council meetings in Whitewater are well run, and even when there are occasional glitches (as is inevitable, anywhere), Patrick Singer has handled those situations well.
Second, an unsuccessful request from a local group should be a reminder about the difference between publicity (advertising or marketing) and policy.
Favorable publicity is not an assurance of favorable policy.
In the request Tuesday, a group that had (to my mind) a very successful event last week failed to receive a sponsorship grant from Common Council.
Now, I attended the event, with my wife and youngest, and we had a fantastic time. The next morning at breakfast, we talked about how much fun we had, and how we enjoyed the show. The hundreds who attended the show with us (and nearly a thousand combined attended one of two shows) would probably say the same – the room that evening was filled with delighted spectators.
Afterward, the event received favorable coverage elsewhere, with color photos of animals on display that night.
Nonetheless, color photos are not policy, and favorable publicity is no guarantee of being well-received politically.
In a world where many people speak or write on policy (Web, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, television, radio etc.), making a case requires repeated, detailed effort.
One has to return to a policy topic again and again, in a thorough and responsive way (and in new ways, as forms of expression evolve).
(For example, it’s very true that the forces of white-collar welfare, exaggerated claims, bias, and closed government have an insatiable craving to manipulate public life to their selfish advantage. They don’t rest, and so neither should the advocates of free markets in capital, labor, and goods, of individual liberty, and of limited government.)
I’m sure Look magazine was a wonderful publication, but it’s not around anymore, and in any event no one called it the ‘in-flight magazine of Air Force One.’ Some said that (at one time) about the New Republic because they saw that different publications have different roles in the marketplace of ideas.
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but for policy-making one needs certain words – sound, well-crafted, and oft-repeated.