Bill Barth

The message from voters in Wisconsin’s spring election is loud and unmistakable.

“Fed up!”

My older son Kyle, who has always been rather direct, calls it “Crackbook.”

It’s another year, and all things seem filled with renewal and possibility. Except, sadly, the ongoing record of futility racked up by the super-secret cabal known only as Forecasters Anonymous.

Not long ago a group of retired has-been editors got together in Madison for golf, burgers and beer. Let’s just say, the burgers and beer were good.

This week, five outstanding individuals were inducted into the Beloit Historical Society’s Hall of Fame.

Bill Barth is the former Editor of the Beloit Daily News, and a member of the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame.

Bill Barth is the former Editor of the Beloit Daily News, and a member of the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame. His wife, Stephanie Klett, is the President and CEO of Visit Lake Geneva, and the former Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Tourism.

It’s a question that goes to the heart of the American experiment: Is this a republic or a democracy?

All those folks – millions of them, we’re often told – who believe elections are being stolen in America should experience what I did a few days ago.

I read. A lot. Newspapers, of course. Magazines. Books, lots of books. Fiction and nonfiction. Print or digital. Whatever is handy.