What I Would Say If Running for Law School Office

This is why I'll never run (much less win) in a law school election.

Now is not the time for cheap and easy promises.

I say these things knowing full well I will lose this election, but also because they are things worth being said.

I will lose because they are things no one wants to hear, talk about, or discuss in polite conversation. Yet they are also things of truth.

We are past the time when elections simply mean handing out free pizza and promising to hold more student-led parties. Or at least, I hope we are. To do anything of consequence, we need a leader who will look beyond his constituents and toward the incoming law school classes on the horizon. And yet we need constituents who will do the same.

We need a leader who will face the truth- that most law school officers are merely placeholders until the next placeholder can arrive. We need someone who can break that measly tradition and turn this opportunity into a way to help others. We need more than just a bullet point on a resume.

We must look to help the school, as opposed to wondering what this school can do for us. We must sacrifice our short-term and selfish ideals for goals that can actually bring about beneficial change to those who follow after. For in the end, our legacy is all that will remain in this place. Over time, even the memories of parties and pizza will woefully fade.

We must assist the community, instead of deride it and ask why can't it be better. We must acknowledge that in today's society competent legal representation is a need and a right among those who cannot afford it- if our catechism of "justice for all" is to be more than mere words. And we must draw the connection that perhaps, just perhaps, some of our neighbors are in the plight they are in because competent adequate representation did not exist.

We must step outside ourselves, and place the mantle of responsibility of our chosen career high on our shoulders. We are guardians of justice- it is time we started acting like it.

If you do not agree with this message, please cast your vote for someone else. I'd rather lose the election than lead such people.

Thank you.