Craig Thompson

Talk about misreading the outcome of an election. When it comes to the constitutional amendment to segregate the transportation fund, many of the pundits and prognosticators are so far off the mark it is laughable.

The old adage that politics makes strange bedfellows seems to be less and less appropriate these days. On most major issues, especially those that require revenue or affect the level of government spending, it is hard to discover even a hint of flirting going on.

Bad optics. That is the en vogue way to describe the scene in 2008 when Americans were in fear of an economic meltdown and the CEOs of Chrysler, GM and Ford arrived in D.C. on corporate jets to advocate for a taxpayer bailout.

My wife Michelle and I built our house about 12 years ago now. One of the things that appealed to me at the time about building new was not having the unexpected cost of home repairs that older houses can stick you with. (The other thing that appealed to me was that Michelle told me, “We are building new.”)

R.E.M initially released their single “It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” in 1987. The refrain line has since become part of our nomenclature for describing various seismic shifts in our world. When it comes to transportation, this expression is extremely apropos in 2013 – thanks to a lot of innovators – some from Wisconsin.

As Americans, we take pride in making things. We also have gotten pretty good at wallowing in things, as well. While there is no doubt the United States faces some significant challenges – many of our own making and some a result of external factors – we seem obsessed these days with proving we understand just how bad things are.

There are a lot of different things that come to mind when you think of Wisconsin. The Packers, Cheddar, the Brewers, Colby, the Badgers, Gouda, the Dells, Havarti, Whistling Straits, Asiago, the House on the Rock, Parmesan.