I ran for a position on the Dane County Board of Supervisors in the April 7 Spring Election.

I won. I lost. I won again and here’s what I mean.

I won because I ran and because I ran I got to enter a polling booth and find my own name on a ballot which meant I fulfilled one of my responsibilities as a citizen and expressed my willingness to accept another, that is to do my best for all the people who voted whether they voted for me or not and beyond them my responsibility to all the people who didn’t vote at all, including those unable or too young to vote.

I ran as a non-partisan candidate. That’s what it said on the ballot and that’s what I observed. I accepted no money from any organization political or otherwise. I affiliated with no political party or action group. A few individuals helped me. I hope I gratified their generosity.

About John Fons

I gained a first-hand education in politics here in the Capitol of Wisconsin, although I had a pretty good idea about politics from living in places like Chicago, Houston, Dallas and Los Angeles.

I lost when the votes were counted. I did not get elected.

I won again when my phone started ringing a week after the Spring Election and members of the Republican Party began to recruit me as a candidate for Assembly District 79 in the General Elections this November 3.

I said Yes.

I did not say Yes immediately.

Neither would you.

Reasonable people advised me to say No, but the times we live in are not reasonable and if we turn away, they will become even more so. It is time to be reasonable. The still, small voice remains the one which speaks loudest amidst the hurricane, the fire and the earthquake. We need to listen and find the best within ourselves and in one another, rather than shout each other down with accusations. Then we have a chance together, because broken and filled with hatred, contempt or anger, we have no chance whatsoever.

I am seventy-six years of age. I will be seventy-seven by the time they count votes November 3 at the General Election. That means I will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of my twenty-seventh birthday.

That will make me a winner again.

The motion carries.

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