Chapter 616 - 292: Forging Scattered Sand into Bricks

Pittsburgh City Hall, the Mayor’s Office.

On the video wall, six screens simultaneously played different news channels, all on mute. Yet the content was surprisingly uniform.

The screens were filled with an unsettling, somber color palette.

Close-ups of shuttered pharmacies, the silhouette of an old man trembling in the cold wind, and a so-called "medical expert" in a white coat issuing a stern warning.

The headlines were even more alarming:

The Hidden Killer in Cheap Drugs

Unverified Generic Drugs Are Poisoning Our Communities

Mayor Wallace’s Healthcare Gamble: Who Will Pay for the Side Effects?

Ethan stood before the screens, his hand gripping the remote so tightly it seemed about to shatter.

"They’re insane."

Ethan turned, his voice thick with unconcealed anxiety.

"Leo, they’re launching a carpet-bombing campaign. It’s not just Fox News. They’ve bought off local TV stations, community radio, and even the free newspapers they hand out at supermarket entrances."

"They’re spreading panic statewide. They’re saying our drugs are made in small workshops in India, that they have excessive impurities and will cause kidney failure."

"They’re saying the Mutual Aid Alliance’s funding pool is about to collapse and that anyone who joins now will end up saddled with debt."

Ethan walked to the desk, planted his hands on its surface, and stared at Leo, who was looking down at a document.

"Damn it, didn’t that bastard Marcus Crassus promise us he would personally appease the health insurance companies?" Ethan complained. "It’s obvious his so-called ’appeasement’ was useless. These giants don’t listen to the Democratic National Committee at all."

Leo looked up, a derisive smile touching his lips.

"Ethan, when did you get the illusion that bureaucrats in Washington keep their promises?"

"Of course he’ll ’appease’ them. He’ll invite the CEOs out for a round of golf and tell them: ’I know you’re not happy, but for the sake of the election, just bear with it for a bit.’"

"And what will those CEOs say in response? They’ll say, ’Of course, Mr. Chairman. We’ll bear with it.’"

"Then, the moment they walk out the door, they’ll wire money to their ad agencies and double the budget."

Leo shook his head.

"A politician’s promise is just for show. He says it casually, and we should listen to it just as casually."

"As long as Cres doesn’t stab us in the back, as long as he doesn’t work with the Republican Party to attack us, that’s the most help we can ask for."

"But we’re under a full-blown media assault right now, Leo."

"Our citizens..."

Ethan paused, as if weighing his words, but in the end, he spoke the blunt truth.

"Honestly, their education level isn’t very high. They lack the ability to discern complex information. They’re easily manipulated by fear-mongering."

"Even if the three hundred thousand people in Pittsburgh trust you because they’re already seeing the benefits, this is a statewide legislative battle."

"There are thirteen million people in Pennsylvania. The ones in the Philadelphia Suburbs, on the Lake Erie Shoreline, in the mining districts of Scranton... they’ve never seen a Red Card. All they do is watch TV."

"If they get scared and start pressuring their representatives to repeal the bill, our base will be isolated and eventually crushed."

Leo set down the document he was holding.

He looked up, glanced at the agitated Ethan, then stood and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside, Grant Street was bustling with traffic.

"Ethan."

There was a hint of admonishment in Leo’s voice.

"You’ve made a mistake."

"You, like the arrogant lobbyists in Washington and the self-righteous elites in Harrisburg, have made an arrogant mistake."

"What?" Ethan asked.

"You see the people as a single entity."

"A faceless, unintelligent, emotional, monolithic giant baby that needs a nanny."

Leo turned, leaning back against the windowsill. His back was to the light, his face obscured by shadows.

"In this country, the elites are always used to looking down on the masses. They think the public is a flock of stupid sheep that will obediently head east or west with just a few barks from a sheepdog."

"But that’s not the case."

Leo looked at Ethan and held up three fingers.

"There are differences among the people, Ethan. At any given time, in a society undergoing change, the population can be clearly divided into three groups."

"The vanguards, the centrists, and the laggards."

Leo folded one finger back.

"The first group, the vanguards. These people are our kindling."

"Do you think those hundreds of thousands of workers in Pittsburgh support me just because they got cheap medicine?"

"No."

Leo shook his head.

"Have you forgotten what we’ve been doing for the past six months?"

"We haven’t just been repairing roads and building ports."

"At the old Carnegie Steel Factory site, all those teachers and professors we hired have been giving weekly lectures to the workers."

"They talk about the Great Depression, about surplus value, about how financial capital works, and about why they do the hardest work for the least amount of pay."

"Every Alliance note we’ve issued, every mobilization of the Mutual Aid Alliance, has actually been a social experiment—and an enlightenment movement."

"The people of Pittsburgh have awakened."

Leo’s gaze sharpened.

"They’ve lived through the harsh winter of unemployment, witnessed Luigi’s trial, shed tears before the Wailing Wall. They’ve already seen through the true nature of this game."

"They know that the experts on TV are just lapdogs for the capitalists. They know the fear-mongering news is designed to scare them into handing over their wallets."

"They’ve gained the ability to think for themselves."