Chapter 715 - 334: Leo, You Need to Get Married

"Leo, you’re still trying to understand American politics through a secular lens."

Roosevelt began to dissect the spiritual core of the nation.

"You think marriage is a private matter. You believe that as long as you’re competent at your job and can bring economic benefits to the voters, they have no right to interfere in your personal life."

"That might work in Europe, but in the United States, it won’t fly."

"You have to understand that the United States is a country deeply steeped in religious faith. Even in the twenty-first century, no matter how advanced technology becomes, the fundamental character of this nation is still what the Puritans left behind."

Roosevelt’s tone grew solemn.

"From a religious perspective, it’s even more imperative that you marry—and that you have a seemingly perfect marriage."

"You need to understand how mainstream Christian voters in the United States define marriage, especially the Protestants and evangelicals who make up a huge voting bloc."

"In their eyes, marriage doesn’t fall into the secular category of a contract at all. A contract is signed by two people for mutual benefit and can be terminated at any time. But marriage is a covenant, a sacred covenant established between man and God."

"This religious understanding directly determines their voting logic."

"If you remain single, or if you break the vows made to your spouse, the voters’ subconscious will immediately jump to one conclusion: you are not a trustworthy person in the eyes of God."

"This untrustworthiness will then be extended into the political realm. They’ll think, ’If someone won’t even respect or commit to the sacred covenant of marriage, how can they possibly respect their promises to the voters? How can they be faithful to their oath to the Constitution?’"

"In the eyes of religious voters, loyalty is an indivisible whole. If you are disloyal to your family, or refuse to start one, it means you lack absolute loyalty to the nation. You cannot pass their moral scrutiny."

Leo walked back to the bar and poured another glass of water.

He understood this bundled logic.

It was completely irrational, but this was the genuine mindset of the American grassroots voter.

Roosevelt continued his discourse.

"In the future, you will be campaigning for the highest office in the land."

"You have to realize that American voters, especially those tens of millions of votes in the Southern Bible Belt, subconsciously select a President based on the standards for a pastor."

"You can go look it up in the Bible. First Timothy, Chapter 3, clearly lays out the qualifications for a church leader."

"An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife... He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect."

"The scripture is very clear: For if someone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?"

"That line is the hard-and-fast rule of American grassroots politics."

Roosevelt’s voice carried an irrefutable force.

"This theological logic—that one who can rule his household can rule the nation—has been completely transformed into a political requirement that voters demand of politicians. In a sense, the President of the United States is the nation’s chief pastor, and the United States itself is one giant parish."

"A Politician with no family and no children is seen as severely lacking in their religious aesthetic."

"They will see you as incomplete, and they will conclude that you lack the empathy, tolerance, and sense of responsibility required to be the nation’s shepherd."

"You have no flesh and blood of your own, so they won’t believe you can truly care for the people of this country. If you can’t even build a small family, they would never dare entrust you with the management of an entire nation."

Leo tightened his grip on the glass of water.

He remembered the old miners and farmers sitting in the audience when he gave a speech in Western Pennsylvania.

Those people went to church every Sunday.

There was indeed a fervor in their eyes when they looked at him, because he had brought them jobs and affordable medicine.

But he also knew that if he were to run for President, those same people would definitely ask: Who is Mr. Wallace’s wife? What school do his children attend?

If the answer was "none," that fervor would diminish in an instant.

"The family is the line of defense against original sin."

Roosevelt’s voice broke Leo out of his reminiscence.

"Christian doctrine places extreme emphasis on the darkness and weakness of human nature. They believe everyone is born with original sin, and that human beings are hopelessly vulnerable to temptation."

"To religious voters, power is the greatest temptation. A single Politician wielding immense power is in an absolutely dangerous state. In their words, you are in a ’moral free fall.’"

"You have no wife, no family ties to hold you back. This means that when faced with the temptations of sex, money, and power, you have no braking mechanism. You are extremely susceptible to corruption."

"They see marriage as a systemic safeguard, granted by God, to help humanity resist temptation and regulate private life."

Roosevelt analyzed the voters’ defensive psychology.

"A Politician with a stable family has a pair of eyes watching him. He has to be responsible to his wife and maintain his dignity as an elder in front of his children."

"He is placed under a kind of moral supervision, and this supervision makes voters feel secure because it makes your behavior predictable."

"Voters despise unpredictable politicians. Being single represents endless variables, a potential scandal waiting to explode at any moment."

"Marriage, on the other hand, is a lock that secures your private desires in a safe cage. You need to willingly put on this lock, show the key to the voters, and tell them, ’I’m safe. I’m restrained.’"

Leo sat down on the sofa, sinking into the soft cushions.

"I understand. It’s a visual demonstration. I need to prove to them that I’m one of them," Leo said.

"Exactly right." Roosevelt appreciated Leo’s perceptiveness.

"American politicians need to be seen frequently at church. That, too, is a political ritual."

"Imagine the scene."

"It’s Sunday morning. You’re in a well-fitting suit, with your elegant wife by your side and your two adorable children in tow, walking into church. You sit in the front row, singing hymns and bowing your heads in prayer together."

"The impact of that image is more powerful than a hundred speeches on economic reform on Capitol Hill. It is the most potent visual symbol for communicating with voters."

"It tells everyone, ’I follow your rules, I revere your God, and I live the same life you do.’"

"In the United States, the church is a core social unit and a center for political mobilization. In traditional church culture, single men are often marginalized. They’re seen either as unsettled young men or as reclusive eccentrics."

"A family is the only ticket to entering the church’s inner circle of power and gaining access to its grassroots political network."

Leo sighed.

"It seems I have no choice."

"That’s right, you have no choice. And your situation now is even more severe than mine was back in my day."

Roosevelt began to compare the differences in the political environments of the two eras.

"In my time, the thirties and forties, religious forces were just as powerful, but they placed more importance on a Politician’s Establishment Faction identity and a surface-level respectability."

Roosevelt spoke candidly about his own past.

"My private life was very complicated, which was no secret in Washington’s inner circles at the time, but I maintained the appearance of a complete family."

"Eleanor was not just my wife; she was my political ally. In public, we played the part of a proper presidential couple."

"We met the voters’ minimum requirement for respectability. As long as things looked good on the surface, the media was willing to exercise restraint, and the voters wouldn’t dig too deep."

"But things are different now."

Roosevelt’s tone turned icy.

"Ever since the rise of the Moral Majority in the eighties, the religious right has elevated the family lives of politicians to the level of a battle in the culture wars."

"Today’s electoral environment is extremely polarized, and a Politician’s private life is examined under a microscope. If you remain unmarried all the way to the presidential campaign, your opponents will immediately launch the most vicious media attacks."

"They’ll question your sexual orientation, accuse you of supporting radical individualism, and frame your single status as a scornful attack on traditional family values."

"In this era of fierce conservative backlash, such an accusation would be absolutely fatal in a general election. You would lose all the Swing States in the Midwest and the Southern States."