From Corrine Hendrickson

New Glarus

To the Editor:

The last thing anyone wants to talk or think about right now is politics.

I get it. It’s healthier to focus on our kids, their schools, and our communities, than to think about who’s doing what to who in politics right now. How gross.

The problem is, people with money and power want us to respond with a shoulder shrug, and just give up on thinking better or different are possible. 

At a time with so much uncertainty about what kind of world we are creating for our kids and grandkids, better and different aren’t an option, they’re required.

I recently decided to run for the State Senate. I’ve never been part of a political party and never run for partisan office. That automatically puts me at a disadvantage. Madison power brokers handpick their own to run for office, assuming we want to be told who best represents our values. That’s just not who we are in southwest Wisconsin.

We are free-thinking, free-spirited, and free to choose who can best highlight the increasing disparities between the haves and have nots. Right now, that difference has never been more obvious. 

My husband is both a career and volunteer firefighter and we have two teenage sons.  I recently had to close my family childcare after 18 years of caring for and educating little ones, because when the bills come due each month, the dollars just stopped making sense. That’s something more of us working class families can really relate to right now; it’s tough out here. 

If we want things to be different, we must be willing to try something different.  We must meet the moment to create a better tomorrow with a fresh perspective and new ideas.

Share your fears, concerns, and fresh ideas by dropping me a note at Corrinefor17@gmail.com.

I look forward to chatting and meeting you in the months ahead.

The one thing we can all agree on, this isn’t how we want things to be.