Wisconsin's Hard Fall

For many a generation, Wisconsin was America’s weather vane. If you wanted to know which direction our nation was headed, my home state would tell you. Wisconsin blazed the trail. Then the state stopped leading the way.

Once an industrial powerhouse, Wisconsin lost much of its manufacturing base and the jobs that come with it. The state was slow to adapt to the changing nature of the economy, ranking dead last in the country in new business start-ups and entrepreneurial activity, watching idly as its middle class shrunk more than anywhere else in the country.

Once America’s Dairyland, Wisconsin lost most of its herds and an alarming number of family farmers. Replacing them are massive feedlots that churn out milk and meat through industrial processes that turn tap water the color of apple cider and sicken neighbors.

Wisconsin once was a model for the nation in the area of environmental protection. But as public consciousness of the causes and effects of climate change grew in recent year…