Economic health starts on the farm

'The best defense of democracy is an informed electorate.' — Thomas Jefferson The beginning of June marks the traditional start of the campaign season in Wisconsin. It corresponds to when those running for partisan elected offices must have their nomination paperwork filed to appear on the ballot. The campaign season is the time for candidates, and supporters to make their pitch about why ...

Devotion shows itself in many ways. Devotion is seen on damp spring mornings as volunteers place small flags or fresh flower arrangements on the graves of fallen service men and women, taking care to make them neat and clean. Devotion can be seen in the soapy hands and bent backs of those who volunteer their time to scrub accumulated grime off headstones and grave markers, weathered, but sti...

Each May about 4 million young people graduate from high schools across the country. The ceremonies are similar. Family, friends and relatives gather on football fields or gymnasiums. Music plays and young people in robes solemnly process. Speeches are given. Tears are shed. There is polite laughter as the school official delivers the same joke for the 23rd year in a row. Names are called. Dipl...