We believe that we are all connected, and that there are some things we can only do together, as a community, a state and a nation. In the words of President Abraham Lincoln, through government, we should do together what we cannot do as well for ourselves. We do not believe that government should do things for us that we can do for ourselves. But we believe that there are problems that government
can best solve, one of which is to level the playing field. We believe that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, hard times or bad luck, a crippling illness or a layoff may strike any one of us. So we believe that there is a social compact between government and the people to maintain health care, education, the environment and equity. Living in northern Wisconsin we place special value on the environment, education, access to health care and environmentally sustainable economic growth. We believe that only through working together can we secure these values for ourselves, our families, our neighbors and the next generations. Finally, we believe that governmental budgets are moral documents that imbody the values that a community and country embraces.
