Forging America: My Campaign Manager is Roosevelt

Bennett spread his hands, a look of resignation on his face.

"If that’s the case, I’m dead in the water for my reelection campaign. If I can’t even hold onto my position, what’s the point of me joining this alliance? I might as well quit now. At least then I can protect my base."

Bennett’s words resonated with several of the suburban mayors.

They wanted money and development, but they didn’t want to get dragged into a mess.

Supporting a murderer was beyond their political breaking point.

Leo looked at his wavering allies.

He knew this was a hurdle they had to overcome.

If he didn’t address this concern, the alliance would still fall apart, torn asunder by its internal class divisions.

’The weakness of the middle class... this seems like a dead end.’

Leo asked Roosevelt in his mind.

When it came to technical issues like law, budgets, and institutional design, Leo was sufficiently confident.

But when faced with the hearts of the people, with human nature, with the complex psychology of electoral politics, he still felt his lack of experience.

He needed Roosevelt’s support. He needed this master of popular sentiment, who had won four presidential elections, to show him the way.

’Mr. President, the situation Bennett described isn’t an isolated case.’

’The middle class is just like that. They want the dividends of change, like cheaper healthcare and better public services.’

’But they’re also terrified of the instability that change might bring. They’re afraid of tax hikes, of falling property values, of any loss to their pitiful amount of wealth.’

’They are the most contradictory and also the most fickle group in society.’

’How do we persuade them? What kind of language can we use to make them believe that supporting Luigi isn’t supporting chaos, but protecting themselves?’

"Leo, you must understand one thing."

Roosevelt’s voice rang out.

"The middle class, or the so-called ’decent people’—the small amount of assets they own, that so-called decency, is as thin as paper in the face of a true systemic crisis."

"You have to make them realize this."

Roosevelt began to speak of his past.

"Back when I was implementing the New Deal, I faced the same accusations. Wall Street hated me, called me a traitor to my class. The rich hated me, said I wanted to redistribute wealth."

"But why, in the end, did they have no choice but to support me? Why did those big capitalists curse my name while still donating to my campaign fund?"

"Because they were afraid."

"They were afraid that if I didn’t do it, if I didn’t give bread to the poor and rights to the workers, then what awaited them wasn’t high taxes, but a revolution."

"They were afraid of losing everything."

"I told them: I’ve come to save capitalism, not to bury it."

"I was releasing the pressure from a boiler about to explode. Sacrificing a portion of their profits in exchange for the survival of the entire system—that was the most rational choice."

"The logic is the same now."

"You need to tell Bennett, tell Smith, tell the entire middle class."

"Do they think they’re safe?"

"Do they think that expensive commercial health insurance policy will protect them for their whole lives?"

"All it takes is one major illness, one job loss, and they’ll come tumbling down from those nice houses of theirs, fall right into the mud, and become exactly like the poor people they look down on."

"The healthcare system in the United States is a reaper. It doesn’t just harvest the poor; it harvests the middle class, too."

"That shot Luigi fired—it wasn’t just for the poor. It was for them, too."