The November end of this year's presidential and local elections has taught me that playing well with others is a lesson worth learning, both in preschool and in politics.  And while we make progress, more political, ideological, and even spiritual struggles motivate voters into activism. 

The bad news is one election cycle will not resolve every one of the state and country's problems.  And the good news is, with rare exception, the result of one election puts a semi-colon at the end of issues, not a period.  Maybe the nomination of Barack Obama places an exclamation mark at the end of this historic presidential race.  But in another four years, Democrats and bridge-builders everywhere may end that nomination process with a question mark.  We will have to wait and see. 

The point is the work of equality and democracy beckon, and lessons remain to be learned from this incredible, historic season.

As national politics go, our nation's leaders should understand the Bush-era lessons:  the White House should not equally jeopardize the nation's infrastructure and the country's safety by waging ill begotten wars in foreign nations, while trashing the Constitution, opening a heinous torture chamber, turning its back on a nation's city during crisis, and lastly, violating the public's trust by decimating the economy.

I often overlook local election issues in favor of presidential races and state propositions - and my guess is, many people do the same. Despite receiving a "Voting Guide for Republicans" in the mail each election, I do my research on the issues rather than blindly fill out my ballot with the guide's recommendations. (I do wonder sometimes how many people use political party guides as command rather than recommendation. My recommendation is do a little research on an issue or don't vote on it at all.)

But researching local candidates is often tedious. Here in Vista, we are electing Vista Unified School District governing board members. And I do care - aside from working towards being a public school teacher myself, I may one day have children in the Vista Unified School District - but even after looking over candidate bios, I find few meaningful ways to distinguish the candidates.

Elizabeth Jaka is a "community volunteer" who seeks to "provide quality educational programs that will give our children the tools they need to succeed in the 21st century." Sounds great! Steve Lilly is a retired educator who wants to see "increased student learning" and assessments that "provide teachers and principals timely data on student performance" (what a concept - tests that indicate performance). Also noble! Angela Chunka wants to give students access to the latest technology and close the achievement gap - no argument here! Stephen Guffanti and Eileen Fernandez want to see students reading and writing English at grade level - a no-brainer, right?

Start up a conversation with your neighbor about your local government and it will quickly become a whine session about what the city isn't doing right. Right?

Do you really know how your city works? You may have a teenager who is required to perform a certain number of community service hours in order to graduate from school, but what have you done for your city lately? Dialogue is great, but I'm so sick of the whining.

Complaining is only worthwhile when it leads to action.