When I was a senior in high school there was a requirement that all students go through an American government / citizenship class. In this class we learned about the history of the US, the Constitution, and the general implementation of Democracy in our country. During the final month, we went through an exercise in civics that had a profound impact on my view of people and politics.

The exercise was a class election. After proportionally dividing the room into Democrat, Republican, and Independent parties - the Democrats had a numbers advantage of 3 or 4 people and the Independents probably had that number total - the assignment was for each party to choose a candidate who would make a speech on "election day" and a secret ballot vote would be held afterward to determine the winner. As things turned out, I was assigned to the Republican Party and ended up attaining the party's nomination for President.

I have to say that I was a little cynical about the whole thing. I mean seriously, all that the Democrats had to do to win was vote the party line. Also, as High School kids, the generally conservative tenor of the Republicans - whom, in real life at the time, had just taken over Congress and were pimping their "Contract With America" - wasn't so much in touch with what we were all about and one of the rules was that the speaker had to take the ideological viewpoint of the real party. Regardless, I was still going to give it a good go with my speech and after a brief meeting about our campaign strategy, my campaign manager assured me that if I delivered behind the podium she would take care of everything else. Kind of my own Axelrod / Rove.

Election day came and I brought with me an over-the-top speech that was steeped in conservative values ("gangsta rap" - a genre that I was particularly fond of at the time - got a rather acute evisceration) and humor. I got to the classroom and was overwhelmed by the incredible effort that my campaign staff had put in to promote my candidacy. They had picket-like posters, ribbons, candy for the other voters and a boatload of spirit. When my time to speak came, I bet every student in our entire wing of Riverdale High School heard the noise that my Republican Party made to support me. I delivered the speech and I delivered it well, buoyed by the incredible enthusiasm that my team provided.

Even though I was destined to lose, I felt something special that day. To me this was still just a silly assignment used to cover for a cake party at the end of the class, but I'll never forget what it was like to see the lengths that those students went to for the cause of us winning an unwinnable election. As I stood on that podium giving Liberalism a mighty smack down, I wondered what it would be like if people's futures were really on the line. If we really had a purpose. If I could really earn the ability to empower this crowd in their pursuit of Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

After my speech, as I ate my cake and snacked on the favors supplied by my group, the teacher announced that the winner of the election was none other than the Republican candidate - Rashid Jackson. I was astounded. Why would anybody from the Democratic party even bother to vote for me? My party plus the 3 independents (one of them was their candidate, so I highly doubt he voted for me) would not have been enough to put me over the top. Maybe the Democrats didn't like their candidate. Maybe my campaign manager stuffed the ballot box. Maybe candy is all it takes to buy a High School vote. Who knows? When it was over, the Independent candidate made a comment to the effect of "we all knew that Rashid was going to win" but I think he grossly overestimated any popularity that I had with the class as, while the ratio changed over my four years, I was always more geek than anything else during those years.

Looking back on it, I'd like to think that those who crossed over saw a well-organized campaign that was clear in its message and sharp in its execution. I'd like to think that the immense excitement that we Republicans showed was too infectious for the other duller campaigns to have held their numbers simply on party affiliation. That who decided the outcome of that election were not the candidates (okay maybe I'd like to think that just a little bit) but the dedicated party members themselves going above and beyond to make a "principled" vote for Rashid an easy one to cast.

Now I realize that the exercise was so much more than an excuse to eat cake and drink punch. It showed how you can't take people's votes for granted. It showed the power of independents. It showed the power of organization and execution. Most of all for me, it showed me how to let go and let others work on my behalf. Thirteen years later, that lesson is finally sinking in.

Or at least... I'd like to think so.