the good fight

["Stephen Cooke" <scooke@uidaho.edu>]

Dear Visionaries,
 I would like to comment on three things 1) Travis Tonn/Charlie Brown
discussion, 2) small farms, & 3) business park.
1) Travis raises the important issue of the nature of civic discussion. A
community discussion implies a sense of community and the ability to
discuss. This list provides us with a chance to define our definition of a
sense of community, i.e., who is brother and who is other. Is Travis Tonn or
Charlie Brown (or me) inside or outside our sense of community? I would
suggest that they both be included. A test of the strength of a community to
me is how we treat those we disagree with most strongly. The ability to
discuss suggests mutually agree upon rules of civility. What is the role of
truth telling in a community conversation? When is one person's truth
another's insult? Who decides which is which? How do we reach some mutual
agreement on minimum rules of behavior? I suggest we let the conversation
continue to better figure out these rules of civil engagement.
2) Re. small farms. Productivity increases in agriculture results in
resources saved. Saved resources includes, land, labor, capital.
Unfortunately, these saved resources do not always have alternative
employment equal to their previous employment in part due to the specialized
nature of these assets. Without productivity gains, our real income
stagnates or decreases. Economics is a dismal science in part because it
rationalizes reallocation of resource use that is v. disruptive. But without
the disruption, the progress would not come. On the other hand, not all
change is progress. Progress itself is culturally defined. For example, the
preferences for conservation and the environment are changing, I believe.
3) Re. Alturus business park. I suspect that it is not considered liberal by
some to support business. This is a mistake for liberals and for business in
my view. It tends to violate "goosian's law" i.e., don't kill the goose that
lays the golden egg. It can be argued that businesses have life cycles.
Community nurturing of businesses particularly early in their life cycle is
helpful to them and to the community. As with anything, the nurturing can be
abused. But I do not believe that public support, including dedicated tax
support, for new startup businesses is bad per se.
It seems to me that 1)-3) are all a matter of fine lines. Let's continue to
discuss where and when these fine lines are crossed and maintained together.
This is the good fight.

Stephen Cooke