At their best, free marketeers aren’t Scrooges or Gradgrinds who prioritize profit over the “good life.” In fact, we’ve always thought the free market philosophy goes hand-in-hand with higher discussions about education, technology, art, and free thought in 21st century Silicon Valley. In this Opp Now exclusive, we wrap up our 2024 takeaways—reflecting on how free market principles can inspire the pursuit of better, fuller lives.
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Local democracy can be a messy business: many instruments, sometimes cacophony, sometimes off key—and a lot of special interest money trying to take over the band. Yet through it all—just like a free market—we tend to find the melody together. An Opp Now exclusive.
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The viewpoint diversity platform (even lauded—however hollowly—by SJSU) is well-intentioned, says Law & Liberty's R. J. Snell, but fails to get at the heart of true liberal education: shared inquiry. Like Socrates, Snell thinks colleges shouldn't view their plane of differing ideas as a battleground—but an opportunity to question, learn, and pursue truth together.
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Then-County Poet Laureate Mighty Mike McGee wrote the following poem in 2017 to commemorate a mural at the SJ Museum of Art. We excerpt his musings, below, on his multi-layered experiences in this valley—the streets, jobs, the 4am's, the sunrises, the "thousands of seconds we've spent together here."
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Local gov't is supposed to be the closest to the people. You know, Norman Rockwell's Town Hall, and all that. But if the last year is any arbiter, Santa Clara County's governing bodies are increasingly acting like oligarchies, ignoring citizen input and popular will while they pass motions that appease their campaign funders and national advocacy parties. An Opp Now exclusive.
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Where did the voices of reason go from local college campuses? Maybe extremists are shouting the loudest. But dissidents also self-censor. Below, FIRE summarizes a Michigan State University study (surveying 1.3M across USA) suggesting that compared to 2000, individuals are much less willing to publicly defend their beliefs or be seen as “disagreeable.”
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The rapid growth of online media has enabled many previously ignored perspectives (like ours!) to get noticed more. But—to many—it has diminished legacy journalistic standards of fairness and objectivity. We highlighted examples of transparently partisan local media throughout the year. An Opp Now exclusive.
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Overflowing sunshine. Flowers, green grasses, and fruits of every kind. Early California poet (and namesake of the Oakland park) Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) revels in the wonders of “A California Christmas,” below. We echo his gratitude for this special place and the folks in it—and, from the Opp Now team, heartily wish you a wonderful Holiday Season and New Year. :-)
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Misleading bond measures. Brazen tax-raising schemes. Nothing new this year as Bay Area voters faced a fusillade of misguided gov't projects targeting our pocketbooks. But this time, we weren't havin' it. Some of the worst offenders (like Prop 5) were rejected outright, suggesting an encouraging local pivot to fiscal conservatism. Here's our first in a series of five Opp Now exclusive takeaways from 2024.
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Historian April Halberstadt whisks us back to Christmas a century ago in her historic San Jose home—when local agriculture was booming, the city rapidly expanding via annexations, and the faith-centered Wright family (living in now-Halberstadt’s home) making their mark on CA politics. An Opp Now exclusive.
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It's not North Beach, but SJ has its own legacy of Beat Literature from the 1950s. And perhaps none is more stirring than this dreamy, little-remarked passage from Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, in which the narrator hitches a (literal and spiritual) ride on a southbound Xmas Eve train, beginning his SJ-to-LA journey from the sidings of the old Southern Pacific station downtown.
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In 1769, Father Juan Crespi journeyed with Spanish officials to establish mission settlements in Alta (Upper) California. His diary, excerpted below, recalls Christmas '69 as “biting” cold—but abounding in good food, gifts, and jovial communion, between friends and strangers alike. From The Journal of San Diego History.
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