Fandom High School

"Professor Atreides has been called away on personal business," Tyrion began, looking rather more cheerful than he had after a similar weekend the year before. (He'd thought he was an assassin, yes, but at least he hadn't actually killed anyone. And the sight of Jaime in a priest's collar was one he could tease his brother about for ages.) "Which means you'll be listening to me again this week. In a nod to current events, we are discussing power through democracy."

"In theory, democracy means all citizens have the right to vote on the issues that affect their lives and the majority rules. In practice in groups larger than a hundred or so, it generally means you vote for someone who you hope will represent your interests. That's technically known as representative democracy."

"To get power within a democracy, you need to convince as many people as you can to support you. A cynic would say this is done through 'bread and circuses' -- feed the people and entertain them, and they won't care what else you do. However, some of the populace will pay attention no matter how many dancing bears you set before them. To get them to back you, you'll need to convince them you alone understand their needs. In short, you need to learn empathy -- or at least how to fake it."

He went on for a bit, describing various electoral strategies used in modern and historic campaigns.

"As a brief taste in democracy," he concluded, "you'll finish class by voting on what we will discuss next week. The choices are power through celebrity, power through age and wisdom, or power through bureaucracy. If any of those moves you, you may stand up and make a brief statement on its behalf. (And I know you'll all be fighting to sing the praises of beureaucracy.) Once that's done, we will vote on our way out via secret ballot." He nodded to someone sitting near the front of the room. "Make the case for your preference."