Chapter 633 - 296: Rebuilding Pennsylvania

The corridors of Pittsburgh City Hall echoed with the whirring of printers and the hurried footsteps of staff.

Leo sat in his office, holding a briefing that had just been faxed over from Harrisburg.

The Senate’s technical recess had now lasted for a full week.

The key lawmakers on Leo’s list had seemingly vanished overnight.

Some were in meetings in Washington, others were on inspection tours in Europe, and some had even fallen ill.

It was a blockade.

Ethan stood before the desk, his face etched with anxiety.

"Leo, we can’t wait any longer." Ethan pointed at the briefing. "Kaufman is just stalling for time. He knows our funding can’t last much longer."

Leo set the briefing down. He wasn’t anxious like Ethan.

"Let them stall."

Leo’s voice was unnaturally calm.

"What?" Ethan was stunned. "Stall? But..."

"Ethan, do you think our current predicament is just because a few lawmakers won’t sign?"

"Isn’t it?"

Leo stood up and walked to the window.

"It’s because our roots don’t run deep enough."

Leo turned to face his chief of staff, who had been with him every step of the way.

"Ethan, tell me."

Leo asked.

"In the United States, what’s the most important thing?"

Ethan answered without a second thought, "Money, of course. And votes."

"Money can buy you lobbying teams, the best lawyers, and primetime television slots. Without money, you can’t even make a peep in Washington."

"And votes are the ticket to power. Without votes, you can’t get into the legislature, you can’t become a Mayor, you can’t even get elected to the school board."

It was the standard answer.

Leo smiled and shook his head.

"That’s just the surface."

"Money has its limits," Leo explained. "If money were truly omnipotent, the world would be run by the top ten people on the Forbes list taking turns as President, but that’s not the case."

"The merely wealthy, if they can’t convert their money into organizational power, will be torn apart by populism and defeated by more organized competitors."

"Money must be turned into political contributions, into industrial investments, into resources that can control a critical node. Only then can it be exchanged for favorable policies."

"As for votes."

Leo’s gaze sharpened.

"They’re just a tool."

"Scattered votes are powerless in the face of complex districting and the Electoral College system."

"Do you think the Black people living in the slums don’t have votes? Do you think the unemployed workers in the Rust Belt don’t have votes? They do, but they are still the ones being harvested. Why?"

"Because they aren’t organized."

Leo walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and wrote down two terms.

Organization.

Agenda-setting power.

"This is the true core."

The tip of Leo’s marker tapped sharply against the whiteboard.

"In this country, the most fundamental thing is who you can represent, who you can mobilize, and who you can legally harm."

"Why does no one dare to cross the NRA? Because they can mobilize five million gun-owning members and ensure any lawmaker who opposes them loses their election in any district."

"Why can AIPAC influence foreign policy? Because they can precisely funnel money to the most critical people and ruin the reputations of their opponents."

"That is the power of organization."

Leo turned and looked at Ethan.

"Our current Mutual Aid Alliance and Industrial Revival Alliance look huge and active. But fundamentally, they’re still loose."

"The moment our funding is cut and Washington makes a real move against us, these alliances will collapse in an instant, like castles made of sand."

"So, if we want to break this stalemate, we have to be more radical."

A near-fanatical light glinted in Leo’s eyes.

"I’m going to change the entire power structure of Pennsylvania."

Ethan’s scalp tingled with apprehension.

"What are you trying to do? Secede?"

"No, that’s a crude approach."

Leo shook his head.

"What I want is to be irreplaceable."

Leo held up three fingers.

"First, I want the common people to feel: ’Without Leo Wallace, I’ll die from sickness, I’ll die from hunger, I’ll lose my last shred of dignity.’"

"Second, I want the capitalists to feel: ’Without Leo, I’ll go bankrupt, my factories will shut down, my logistics will be cut off, and my investments will go down the drain.’"

"Third, I want those lawmakers to feel: ’Without Leo, I’ll lose the election, I’ll lose my job, I’ll become an irrelevant nobody.’"

Leo looked at Ethan.

"When I’ve achieved all three of these things, those old men in the Senate will no longer be an obstacle."

"Because I’ll have their lives in the palm of my hand."

Listening to Leo’s grand plan, Ethan was more confused than shocked.

"It sounds perfect, but how do we do it?"

"How can we achieve that level of control?"

Leo didn’t answer Ethan’s question directly.

"Ethan, schedule a meeting for me in Pittsburgh with the mayors from the Industrial Revival Alliance. Set it for next week, in the new headquarters building at the Inland Port."

"I’m going to tell them something there."

"Tell them what?" Ethan pressed.

"I’m going to tell them."

"That together, we are going to remake Pennsylvania."

...

The night along the Monongahela Riverfront was torn apart by a blaze of brilliant lights.

Two years ago, this place had been nothing but a riverbank overgrown with weeds, littered with rusted railway tracks and abandoned industrial waste.