In eighth grade at Hollandale Christian School, I served as a campaign manager for one of the two major political parties for a mock version of the George W. Bush vs. Al Gore presidential election.

We staged debates at school, made campaign posters and even delved into a bit of true politics: Someone on the Republican side took to calling the other party “Demo-craps,” which illicited an equally mature response: “Re-poop-licans.” And thinking back, I remember it getting heated on the bus and on the school yard.

Isn’t this the democratic process at its finest, folks?

I bring this up now because us eighth graders and even younger students held our uninformed political beliefs strongly enough to come up with such witty repartee.

This early political experience came to my mind a few weeks ago when volunteers with the Mower County GOP spoke to the Herald asking people to show respect for their First Amendment rights. That’s because people had stolen at least seven Donald Trump-Mike Pence yard signs around Austin and Mower County.

It got me thinking: Taking and discarding political signs ranks about as highly as “Re-poop-licans” and “Demo-craps” on the political discourse scale.

Before I make my next point, let me state something clearly: I think all rational, thoughtful people agree that it’s the kind, respectful thing to allow your neighbors and fellow Minnesotans to post candidate signs in their yard or bumper stickers on their cars — regardless if that candidate will be receiving your vote in November.

Understood? Good.

Now after all of this, I walked away thinking: We can do better.

Here’s my problem: Items like campaign signs and bumper stickers aren’t a conversation; they’re a statement.

Yes, election season is a time to make a statement of support for your chosen candidates. You can argue supporters are aiming for repetition of seeing Trump-Pence or Clinton-Kaine signs to resonate subconsciously, but I would argue campaign signs have swayed few votes.

But these statements must be followed up by conversations and debates, but we too often get locked into a political ideology and grasp it to the bitter end (more on that later).

If this election has shown us anything, it’s that people are hungry for more robust options that an A or B decision. Yes, there are third party candidates, but I’ve had many conversations about how a vote for a third party candidate is just half a vote for another candidate.

The Republican vs. Democrat discussion is getting a bit tiresome. We’re capable of a debate that acknowledge a vast range of opinions that can’t easily be reduced to two lone party platforms.

And, I’d like to challenge voters and political-savvy people to get creative when expressing political views: Write a witty letter to the editor, post an opinion piece on Facebook, talk to people at a coffee shop (just be sure to embrace that they won’t likely agree with all you say), draw a stick figure political cartoon, ask your neighbor if he or she plans to vote — do something tostart a conversation and get creative and hopefully fun with it.

If nothing else, we should at least get more creative. In writing this column, I’ve come up with a few lame slogans that could be used for both candidates:

For you anti-Trump folks: Jump from Trump! Or: Thump the Trump! (The rhyming possibilities with his name are a goldmine).

For you anti-Clinton folks: “You like Hilary? You must live in a distillery!”

I’m eagerly awaiting both parties to start a bidding war to secure my services.

But my point is, hopefully a little creative thinking will spark us to question and break from our long established ways of thinking.

We are far too quick to become entrenched in our opinions. To prove that, I return to the 2000 Hollandale Christian School presidential election.

On Election Day, the entire student body — 70-some students in kindergarten through eighth grade — voted and the totals were read to the school.

Bush won a resounding victory; in fact, Gore received fewer votes than the number of students serving on the Gore campaign. That’s right, at least one of the Gore campaign team jumped ship and voted for Bush.

But that’s not because these dozens of youngsters weighed the merits of Bush and Gore and resoundingly picked Bush. No, it’s because a Christian school is predominantly conservative and most students had already jumped on the bandwagon of our parents’ political views.

Simply put: Test your political muscles a bit this campaign season and do whatever you can to break from the norms.