Holding the two floppy disks given by Alvin, Wang Lei got home and went into his room and used his computer to browse the contents on the floppy disk.

Alvin is very efficient in collecting information. In just a few hours, the web text files saved have been nearly 2m, ranging from the presidential election in 1996 to last year's midterm elections, news about state and local elections, various commentary articles, summary articles, speeches delivered by candidates, and some publicly published special papers and public information.

From the president to members of parliament at all levels of parliament, leaders of governments at all levels, and leaders of some departments, all must take office through elections. Elections are everywhere, and election information is naturally everywhere.

Wang Lei quickly looked at these materials and absorbed nutrients from them, especially the speeches of some candidates participating in the election, and the summary after success or failure, which benefited him a lot.

Time is tight, and Wang Lei skipped through some contents directly. What he wanted to know most was what difficulties those candidates usually encounter and how they would deal with them.

There is relatively little information in this regard. He can only discover various news, speeches, and memoirs like a big wave. When he encounters problems, he sometimes searches the Internet directly.

During lunch, Hu Shuying discovered his condition and asked a few questions with concern. Wang Lei smiled and said that it was okay. He was conceiving the outline of the election and reading and sorting out the information.

After dinner, Wang Lei got into the room again and took more than an hour to scan all the information on the floppy disk. He gained some results, but the most critical problem was still not solved.

After reading the information for so long, his head was a little dizzy. Wang Lei reached out and rubbed his temples, his brows tightly. He didn't believe that he could not run for mayor at the age of eighteen, and could not be a good mayor. He knew what the residents of the town needed because they were together day and night. As long as they stood from their perspective, they could figure it out.

Tradition and development are a huge contradiction. It will be difficult to resolve, but there is no way.

However, all of this lacks a soul, a soul that can connect everything. Wang Lei can't tell what it is, but he always feels that it is a little less, which should be the finishing touch and the cornerstone of everything.

"Damn it, it's such a headache! I still don't want to do it anymore, let's get Colin and the others done first!" Wang Lei gave up a little dejectedly, got up and left the computer, opened his arms, stretched, then leaned back and fell on the bed.

"Oh, what!" Wang Lei bared his teeth in pain while hitting a hard object. He turned to see that it was a book, the book "Bowling Alone" that Director Abel asked him to read yesterday.

"It's so strange, why did I let me read this book?" Wang Lei lying on the bed, picked up the book, and flipped it out curiously.

The school will usually guide them to read academic masterpieces, so it is not difficult for Wang Lei to read such books. The language style of this book is also very concise, a bit humorous, a large number of examples, data and discussions, which also shows that the research of this book is indeed very in-depth.

Author Putnam regards the interconnection between community life and citizens as social capital of a democratic system. Are people willing to spend their spare time drinking coffee and chatting with their neighbors, joining clubs to engage in collective activities, paying attention to public topics, and being enthusiastic about public welfare... These are all social capital.

In his opinion, Americans are increasingly liking to watch TV alone at home or bowling alone, which means the loss of American social capital, which will lead to a weakening of civic participation and affect the quality of democracy, or the performance of democratic institutions.

The foundation of the democratic system is civic participation. Once this participation becomes qualityless, no one engages in collective activities and no longer pays attention to public topics, the quality of democracy will of course be reduced.

Wang Lei was soon attracted by Putnam's argument. He had heard of similar views, but no one seemed to have said so deeply. He was also thinking about the meaning of Director Abel asking him to read this book. Braddock is also a declining community. Not only is the economic recession, but the social capital of community life is also declining.

Braddock's economy needs to develop, and community life needs to be revived.

"Rex!"

Wang Lei finished reading the introduction to the book. Just as he was about to continue reading, he heard Emily's voice. She, Colin, Alvin and others came together. Wang Lei had to put down the book, sit up from the bed, rub his face with his hands, become energetic again, and invite Emily and the others to his room on the second floor.

"Lei, I'm sorry for what happened in the morning. I promise that they will vote for you!" As soon as Emily entered the room, she held Wang Lei's hand and looked at him with watery eyes, looking very sad.

"Haha, it doesn't matter!" Wang Lei stood up, reached out and patted Emily's delicate back of her hand, telling her not to think too much.

Douglas walked out from behind the crowd: "Lei, I'm sorry, too. I tried to tell people around you that you are going to participate in the mayor's election and ask them to vote for you, but no one could accept it. He thought we were joking. If we were to vote, they wouldn't vote casually."

"This is normal, right? An eighteen-year-old mayor who is still in school is crazy enough to think about it, so everyone's reaction will not surprise me, because from the beginning, I knew that this would be a huge challenge, making everyone go from not believing to believing, from incredible, to becoming a reality step by step, this is a very great thing, isn't it?" Wang Lei stood in front of everyone with a smile, reached out and patted Douglas' arm, and his good mental state formed a strong contrast with the depressed emotions of others.

Luca, Colin and others looked at each other. They made an appointment to come together and had already discussed many ways to comfort Wang Lei, but Wang Lei was not depressed at all.

Colin walked over, sat on the chair in front of the desk, took out his cell phone from his pocket, turned it in his hand, and said slowly: "Rex, the reason why miracles became miracles is because their chances of success are very small, one percent, one thousand, or even none in a thousand."

Colin's words were very discouraging, but what he said was true. None of them had ever heard of the eighteen-year-old mayor and was still in school.

Colin raised his head and continued, "Alvin, you are collecting information online. Have you seen anyone who was elected as mayor at the age of eighteen?"

Alvin shook his head and said sternly: "No...but, I did not search for information on this. I mainly collected some information on the presidential election, midterm election, and this year's local elections."

"That means that among the president, congressman and local heads of the United States, there has not been a person who can be elected as mayor at the age of eighteen!" Colin said coldly.

"Rex, you are excellent, but excellent people must follow the rules."

"Oh my god, why is this happening? Damn the rules!" Luca held her head in annoyance, and was very hit.

"Rex!" Emily stretched out her other hand, grabbed Wang Lei's palm with both hands, staring at him without blinking, for fear that he would not be able to stand such a blow.

"Actually, we can change the way. Even if Hawke continues to serve as mayor, he must go through a referendum to demolish the stadium. We can promote the importance of the stadium to the adults. I think they should be more acceptable." Wang Yang's dark eyes rolled around, and he smiled and broke the dullness in the room.

"This is more economical!" Wang Yang said, Alvin, Douglas and others nodded in agreement. This was a remark they had already agreed on.

Colin said again: "Yes, if the chances of Rex being elected mayor are one in ten thousand, then the chances of winning the stadium referendum can reach 60%. As long as we do more work and get two hundred votes, we can keep the stadium."

Everyone looked at Wang Lei, obviously accepting Wang Yang and Colin's statement, and felt that the hope of running for mayor was slim, but if they wanted to stop Hawke from demolishing the stadium, there was still hope.

Wang Lei was also looking at these companions. If even they could not convince and support him, then there would be no hope for running for the mayor, and there would be no hope for one in ten thousand.

Colin spread his hands: "Lei, we are just seeking truth from facts. If you continue to run, we will still do my best."

"Haha, I know, I know! We are our best friends." Wang Lei nodded with a smile, stretched out his hand to Colin, and Colin also stretched out his hand. The two of them clapped their high fives in the air, then looked at each other and smiled knowingly together.

Wang Lei closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened it suddenly, his eyes full of confidence and tenaciousness: "Colin, thank you, but I will prove that you are wrong. Not everything can be measured by numbers. Human history is to constantly create miracles and transcend the past, and we can do it too. For a heart full of dreams, nothing is impossible! Nothing is impossible to awilling heart! nothing!"

Wang Lei clenched his fist and waved it in the air: "If this is a miracle, then we have to create him with our own hands, but I want to say that this is not a miracle at all, this is a goal that we can achieve by working hard."

"You are always so confident and passionate!" Colin smiled, not continuing to argue. He always firmly believed that only numbers can tell everything, and only facts can surpass any eloquence.

Wang Lei walked to the computer, woke up the dormant computer, then pointed to the screen, and showed a confident smile on his face: "Colin, Alvin, you all come and take a look. This is the information I found online."

"Do you know how old the youngest mayor in American history is? Eleven years old, not thirty years old, not eighteen years old, but eleven years old! Is it a miracle for the eleven years old? No, this is a fact!" Wang Lei said loudly, and took a step back and gave up his position in front of the computer.

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Chapter completed!