Almost six years ago, I drew a cartoon about Betsy DeVos being nominated as the Secretary of Education for the Trump administration. This cartoon is very different from that cartoon, but as far as my comments go, I pretty much have the same thing to say — like DeVos, many of the folks running for school boards this fall are cranks:
A crank (for lack of a better term, let me know if there is one) is a person caught up in her own thoughts, plans, and ideology — dogmatically indifferent to the consequences. It's been my experience that nearly every organization has one — work group, school board, sports team, professional society, whatever.
And for the most part, it's good to have a crank.
They provide a vital service: They keep everybody else honest.
Nobody wants to set the crank off, so we tend to plan more carefully.
For example, say you're the chair of a church committee to raise funds for a mission trip. There is consensus for a pancake breakfast, but there is a crank on the finance team who believes with all her heart that using food for fundraising is a grave sin. If indeed you want to move forward, you will make sure to organize a solid and defensible plan.
But the last thing you want is for the crank to be in charge.
Cranks by their nature are "my way or the highway" types, and likely with a chip on the shoulder from having been handled and circumvented so much in the past.
So, please, do your homework and vote accordingly.
John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.
