I have yet to speak to someone in this district who wasn’t behind me on the key issues I’m concerned with: funding our schools, expanding our broadband internet access, creating a new stream of revenue by legalizing and regulating marijuana, and creating better plots of public land to hunt and camp in our district. These conversations often end the second we have a discrepancy in opinion though. We’re not going to agree on everything, but we agree on most. There are no perfect candidates. I’m only a mere mortal from Braham, MN but I’m trying to make this community better and it can’t be done unless we talk about what we need as a community. This district has been written off by those in power and I want desperately to change that. It can’t be done by leveling hate at those who differ from us in minimal ways. The enemy isn’t the neighbor you don’t agree with, it is the one who claims to agree with you to make you feel better. I won’t lie to you about where I stand on anything. I won’t make false promises to you. Let’s stop leveling attacks at those we disagree with and try to talk about these things civilly. Because while we’re fighting among ourselves, we miss the powerful taking a bit more away from us.
Joshua Fike for SD32 