fragments of an election

The student elections were viewed by many in power as a preview of the hated union elections. Any student popular or charismatic enough to rise to power in the school system, before any genuine harm can be done, needs to be separated from the herd and thrown into management. That way the charm and charisma of leadership will be put to good use on the side of the powerful at the expense of the hated union bosses.

the best way to ensure this was to make such things as student body presidents automatically eligible for the business and political schools (as if there was a difference) of the land. Any student leader who achieved the votes of his fellow students, and gave his victory speech, would find himself immediately indoctrinated by the student counselors into the pursuit of higher education. The students, in their natural gloominess, often did not comprehend the larger implications of their own elections. Any student who did raise their hand about the unfair system were either considered fringe loonies, or found themselves quietly disappeared into the bowels of Saturday Schools and in-school detention centers, copying pages of text books in lieu of learning, as the system honed their minds into blunt, numb, madness.

election time drew near. three signatures from three teachers, and parent's permission, and an explosion of signs, speeches, debates about issues without any issues to speak of beyond homework, lunch rooms, and an occasional bus route adjustment.

Elections, the annual ritual of shame and degradation, prom kings and prom queens previewed before the end of the school year, and a wary administration. Principals and vice officials scanning the hallways for assassins, and incriminating holograms, and posters with hidden profane messages.

A college education is a high stake, to rise up over the union bosses and wrestle the world among the elites: the cadre of class presidents.

Janson MacGruder was convinced he would not win, because he had an embarrassing name. To impress a girl that, honestly, barely spoke to him, he had acquired the permission slip.

He would seek signatures. He would seek posters. He would dodge assassins and put down smear campaigns. He would run for class president.