As the new year begins, I look back on my time in the Legislature and think of decisions that have an effect on our families and our neighborhoods.

How crazy will 2018 be? Let us count the ways.

Unplugging – whether literally, figuratively, or both – is one way to demonstrate to others that we care about them and that we are listening. Building on that, if our family, friends, and colleagues benefit from uninterrupted time, does our inner self not deserve a little uninterrupted time as well?

As I retire after almost 25 years as President of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, I can’t help but reflect on how Wisconsin government and politics have changed over the decades. Perhaps the most significant change that has occurred is the increasingly partisan and polarized nature of dialogue and decision-making in the public arena.

Now that 2017 is in the rearview mirror, it is time to look back on what was a wild ride when it came to transportation funding in the state of Wisconsin. Google Maps could not possibly have mapped this route.

Day in and day out, the industries, businesses, farmers, and workers that make Wisconsin what it is — including “America’s Dairyland” — rely on NAFTA to get the job done. It would be a profound mistake to abandon it.

All the faux outrage on the part of Wisconsin GOP kingpins these past several years has been a clever way to mask the obvious: Their operatives, especially Scott Walker during the 2012 recall election, brazenly skirted the state’s campaign finance laws and had the John Doe been allowed to dig deeper several may have wound up being indicted.

Gov. Scott Walker spent part of New Year’s Eve whining again about the remote possibility that he might be outspent in his re-election campaign. At 11:03 a.m., rather than having a mimosa or pickled herring, he tweeted: “In 2017, the Democrat candidate for governor in VA and his allies outspent the Republican candidate and his allies by about $30 million. We cannot let that happen in Wisconsin.” Of course, Walker is used to having a $30 million advantage himself.

Some states allow the major parties to prevent candidates from appearing on the ballot under their name.

Christmas and Hanukkah have come and gone, and a new year is here. As we enter 2018, many people are preparing new goals to meet and new priorities to focus on. We, as state legislators, would be well served to follow suit.

Is Arizona now the progressive state Wisconsin once was?

The speaker has promised entitlement reform since he first won his House seat. If he retires soon as reports suggest, he has just a year to deliver.

In this penny-wise and pound-foolish political environment of the past several decades, we managed to put things off to future generations.

Gov. Pothole has allowed Wisconsin’s roads to decay to 2nd-worst in the country, costing motorists repair penalties reaching an estimated $700 annually in the Milwaukee area, data show.

Washington overflows with people seeking power, status and wealth. They want to impress. However, Marc Raskin was impressive because he came to D.C. to make the world a better place.

The former Kennedy aide, whose radical democratic faith defined progressive activism and ideas across six decades, has died at 83.

Russia extensively meddled to influence our political and social views, shown through thousands of social media/internet posts, many paid for in Rubles. This tactic is illegal, a modern attack on our nation, and the political hacks who aided and abetted this effort are also guilty of a crime.

Dennis Degenhardt could win GOP-leaning Assembly seat as a pro-business moderate.