Chapter 419: Chapter 193: Expensive Jerusalem
"We can’t roll out the employment guarantee across the entire city, nor can we establish these highly subsidized land trusts in every community."
"That’s right, Leo," Roosevelt said. "Stop saying this is the ’Pittsburgh Model’ in its entirety."
"You need to call it an exploratory experiment for the community of the future."
"Emphasize the word ’experiment’."
"This implies that it’s still in the testing phase, that the conditions aren’t right for a universal rollout, and that we need more financial support to continue."
"We’re going to turn this dilemma—our inability to expand the program—into a justification for demanding money from Washington."
"We’ll tell Sanders, we’ll tell Congress: ’Look how great this model is! Look how happy the people are!’"
"’But Pittsburgh is out of money.’"
"’If you want this paradise to survive, if you want to expand it across the entire United States...’"
"’Then send the money.’"
"’Give us two billion.’"
"’Otherwise, this paradise gets shut down.’"
Leo understood.
It was another classic maneuver: turning a crisis into a bargaining chip.
They weren’t refuting Sanders’s ideals; in fact, they were praising them to the heavens.
But they shifted the blame for it being "unfeasible" to an objective factor: a "lack of money."
This both saved face for the Progressives and provided the perfect excuse for demanding a massive appropriation.
They were trading a manufactured hope for a tangible means of survival.
Leo remained alone in the room, mulling over this seemingly self-consistent explanation until night descended.
The lights of the Hill District in the distance were exceptionally bright. The streets there were clean and orderly, its residents living and working in peace and contentment.
It was Pittsburgh’s display window, and it was also the bait Leo was preparing for Washington.
But in the vast darkness beyond, at the ports of the South District and in the factories of the North Shore, tens of thousands of workers were putting in overtime in the cold wind, sweating for their paychecks.
This was the true color of Pittsburgh.
Hard, coarse, and brimming with strength.
As Leo looked upon this scene, something in a corner of his heart began to waver.
’Mr. President.’
Leo called out softly in his mind.
’I am here.’ Roosevelt’s voice was as steady as ever.
’I’d like to ask you a question.’
Leo’s fingers traced a line across the cold glass.
’Those things we discussed... those grand visions.’
’The right of every American citizen to a useful and remunerative job.’
’The right of every American family to a decent home.’
’The right of every person to adequate medical care and the opportunity for a good education.’
Leo paused, as if gathering his words, trying to release the suffocating weight in his chest.
’Can this truly be achieved?’
’I sit in this position now. I hold executive power, I control hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, and I hold the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people in my hands.’
’But I don’t feel omnipotent.’
’I feel constrained.’
’A constraint that comes from the fundamental logic of society itself.’
Leo continued slowly, ’Look at the pilot program in the Hill District. To maintain fairness and justice on just a few streets, to let a few hundred people there possess these so-called rights, we have to bleed other places dry.’
’Resources are finite.’
’To grant these rights to everyone in Pittsburgh, let alone all of Pennsylvania or the entire United States, would require an astronomical sum of money.’
’The current economic system simply can’t support that kind of expenditure.’
’The closer I get to the heart of power, the more I try to drive this societal machine, the more I find its gears are jammed.’
’It was designed to generate profit, to ensure the survival of the fittest. It wasn’t designed for fairness or to care for the weak.’
’I want to give them jobs, but the market tells me that’s inefficient.’
’I want to give them housing, but capital tells me that’s a losing venture.’
’Everything I’m doing now—conning my way to two billion dollars to plug this hole... is this really a long-term solution?’
’Or is this whole thing just a utopia doomed to fail? Are we just using a bigger lie to cover up an unsolvable contradiction?’
A long silence followed in his consciousness.
Roosevelt, sitting in his wheelchair, removed his signature pince-nez.
’You’ve finally hit this wall, Leo.’
Roosevelt began, ’This is the wall every idealist runs into after gaining power.’
’That wall is called reality.’
’You ask me whether those rights can be realized.’
’My answer is: It’s hard.’
’Extremely hard.’
’In certain historical periods, it’s even impossible.’
Roosevelt’s voice grew somber.
’Because your enemy isn’t just Moretti, or Saint Claude, or even the Republican Party.’
’You’re facing human greed, capital’s instinct for self-perpetuation, the fundamental logic that has governed the world for hundreds of years.’
’Capital inherently despises fairness.’
’Efficiency inherently rejects compassion.’
’You’re trying to establish a rule in a pack of wolves that allows sheep to graze peacefully. That in itself is an act that defies nature.’
’That’s why you feel constrained. That’s why you feel resistance.’
’That resistance comes from the gravity of reality itself.’
Roosevelt put his glasses back on, his gaze deepening.
’But, Leo.’
’This is precisely why we need politics.’
’If the market could solve everything, if capital automatically brought fairness, then what would be the point of people like us?’
’What would be the point of government?’
’Our very purpose is to fight against that gravity.’
’To correct the problems in the system.’
’Those rights—to a job, to housing, to healthcare, to education—are not God-given, nor are they found in nature.’
’They are things we defined.’
’They are the baseline of what we believe people in a civilized society deserve.’
’Perhaps we can never balance the books on this.’
’Perhaps we can never build a perfect paradise.’
’But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying.’
’It doesn’t mean we should let the weak perish in the cold.’
’That pilot program exists to show everyone what life is supposed to look like.’
’Even if it’s expensive right now, even if it can only be achieved in one small place.’
’It proves that it’s possible.’
’Our job is to constantly expand that possibility.’
’Whether through lies, political maneuvering, or brute force.’
’We snatch a piece of meat from the jaws of capital and give it to the hungry.’
’We claw back a little time from the machine of efficiency and give it to the weary.’
’That is a victory.’
’That is the mission our generation, and yours, must complete.’
Roosevelt’s voice was filled with power.
’Don’t be intimidated by the numbers.’
’Don’t be trapped by the data models of economists.’
’Human history is a history of constantly achieving the impossible.’
’Two hundred years ago, no one believed the eight-hour workday could be implemented. The capitalists said it would bankrupt them.’
’A hundred years ago, no one believed the elderly could have social security. Politicians called it communism.’
’But now, these things are common sense.’
’Right now, you think that two-billion-dollar plan is a lie.’
’But once you’ve accomplished it, once you’ve actually used that money to change Pittsburgh...’
’...it will become the truth.’
’Go on, Leo.’
’Don’t doubt your goal.’
’The constraints you feel are proof that you are changing the world.’
’If you don’t feel any resistance, it just means you’re going with the flow, drifting with the current.’
’Only those who swim against the current can feel the weight of the water.’
Leo took a deep breath.
Gazing at the night outside the window, some of the fog in his heart began to clear.
The heavy, oppressive feeling was still there, but now he knew its source.
It was the world’s reaction force, pushing back against him as he tried to move it.
’I understand, Mr. President.’
Leo thought.
’I’ll keep pushing.’
’Even if it won’t budge, even if I can only move it an inch.’
’I have to carve out a little space for them to survive.’
Reality was cruel, and its gravity was immense.
But he had to fly.
To take flight, and carry this heavy city with him.
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