Election Returns

We won last night. Not a governor’s mansion or a mayor’s chair, but a seat on the school board. My daughter-in-law’s reelection will keep her in a job that pays nothing and requires long evenings away from her children and husband.

Headlines will report triumphs of Chris Christie, Terry McAuliffe and Bill de Blasio, but across the country many more men and women were elected to the thankless jobs that keep American democracy working.

Winning took work: weeks of discussing school issues, fund-raising, working on leaflets, debating on the local access channel and enlisting family to do scut work at the campaign office, to say nothing of baking cookies for small rallies.

My daughter-in-law won yesterday with the largest margin of anyone on the local ticket, but she accomplished something even more important-—showing her three teen-aged children how American citizens can take part in the political process beyond watching cable TV talking heads yak about it.

To the victor belong the spoils of a job well done.