Election Lessons

With the election just around the corner, we should look at some lessons Hollywood has taught us before we cast our ballots.

Election – Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) is an overachieving high school student who is running unopposed for Student Body President. Mr. McAllister (Matthew Broderick) is Tracy’s teacher who is fed up with her brown-nosing ways. He enlists a dim-witted football player to run against Tracy, much to her chagrin. Underestimating Tracy’s determination, Mr. McAllister resorts to even more dirty tricks to try to change the outcome, which lead to his own self-destruction.

Lesson 1: Dirty tricks never work.

Wag the Dog – After the U.S. President is caught in a sex scandal in the Oval Office, he brings in a political consultant (Robert DeNiro) and a Hollywood producer (Dustin Hoffmann) to “fix” the problem two weeks before the elections. Together, they fabricate a potential war with Albania and spread rumors of the new B-3 bomber that doesn’t exist. They recruit a songwriter to write an antiwar anthem and cast a prisoner as a rescued fighter pilot, all as the President heroically ends the “war.”

Lesson 2: Know all the facts before voting.

Swing Vote – Bud Johnson (Kevin Costner) is an apathetic average Joe who only really cares about when he’ll get his next beer. His scrupulous daughter forces him to vote for the next president, and he becomes the most important person in the election after his vote wasn’t counted in a tied presidential race. News crews flood his small town and the whole nation, including the two candidates, pleads their case with Bud to win his “swing vote.”

Lesson 3: Every vote counts. So go vote!