novelnext Chapter 40 Have We Changed?
Chapter 40 Have We Changed?
On the night of the Democratic primary election, the vote count was a foregone conclusion.
Representative John Murphy defeated his challenger Alex Cortez by a margin of more than 30 percentage points to secure the Democratic nomination.
In the upcoming midterm elections, he will represent the Democratic Party to face his Republican opponent.
In this deep blue district, winning the primary election is equivalent to winning the final election.
To celebrate this hard-won victory, Senator Murphy hosted a grand celebration banquet in the ballroom of a high-end hotel in downtown Pittsburgh.
Leo, Sarah, Frank, and several core members of the community center were invited to attend as “key figures in helping Senator Murphy win the election.”
Frank, dressed in a suit, looked extremely uncomfortable.
He kept tugging at the tie that was making him feel like he was suffocating.
"I really don't understand why we came to this godforsaken place." He muttered to Leo, holding a glass of champagne. "The drinks here taste like horse piss. It's not as good as drinking ice-cold beer in the construction site's shacks."
Leo smiled but didn't say anything.
He knew that this celebration banquet was not just about celebrating victory.
It was more like a political military parade.
Congressman Murphy needs to be here to demonstrate his strength to all who support and oppose him, and to solidify his position.
The banquet hall was filled with all the prominent figures in the Pittsburgh Democratic Party.
City council members, heads of various boroughs, union leaders, and the business owners and lawyers who provided Murphy with substantial campaign funds.
Dressed in splendid evening gowns, they moved through the crowd, congratulating each other and exchanging joys of victory.
Congressman Murphy delivered a passionate thank-you speech on stage.
He thanked all the voters who voted for him, all the donors who contributed to his cause, and all the members of his campaign team who worked for him.
Finally, he specifically mentioned Leo.
"I also want to give a special thanks to a young man!" Murphy's voice echoed throughout the hall through the microphone, "He is our Pittsburgh hero, Leo Wallace!"
"It was he and his team, with their passion and wisdom, who helped us regain the trust of the working class! They were the key to our victory this time!"
The spotlight shone on Leo.
The audience erupted in enthusiastic applause.
But beneath the applause, undercurrents were brewing.
Halfway through the banquet, Murphy's campaign manager, Karen Miller, carrying a glass of champagne, gracefully walked through the crowd toward Leo and his group.
She didn't go directly to Leo, but instead went to Frank first.
"Mr. Kowalski, I must express my highest respect to you." Karen said with a sincere smile, "Your ability to organize on the ground in this primary election was simply a miracle. You and your union brothers are our strongest bulwark in the working community."
Frank was clearly not impressed by such flattery from Washington politicians.
He just snorted and took a sip of the champagne in his hand.
"We were just doing what we were supposed to do."
Karen didn't mind his coldness.
She continued, "John and I both believe that a capable and prestigious union leader like you shouldn't be confined to the small stage of Pittsburgh."
"If you'd like, John can use his connections in Washington to recommend you for a senior position on the executive committee of the AFL-CIO in Pennsylvania."
"That will be a much broader platform, allowing you to make your voice heard louder for all the workers in Pennsylvania."
Frank rolled his eyes after hearing this.
"Save your breath, ma'am." He slammed his champagne glass down on the table beside him. "I, Frank Kowalski, have only ever wanted to work for my fellow workers. I have no interest in being a watchdog for you Washington gentlemen."
After he finished speaking, he walked towards the banquet hall terrace without looking back, clearly intending to have a smoke there.
Karen's smile froze for a moment, but she quickly recovered.
She picked up her wine glass again and walked towards Sarah, who was standing to the side.
"Ms. Jenkins, I've heard so much about you," Karen said. "I saw the wonderful videos you produced for 'The Heart of Pittsburgh' in Washington; your media talent is absolutely first-rate."
Sarah was somewhat flattered.
"Thank you for your compliment, Ms. Miller."
"I heard you're graduating from college next year, is that right?" Karen asked.
Sarah nodded.
"So what are your career plans?"
"I...I haven't decided yet. I might stay in Pittsburgh and help Leo with some community work," Sarah replied.
Karen smiled.
"Sarah, that's a waste of your talent," she said. "A person of your caliber should go to Washington, to the center of national politics, to showcase your abilities."
She extended a very tempting olive branch to Sarah.
"John's office on Capitol Hill is currently looking for a new media director. If you'd like to come, the position is yours."
"A five-figure annual salary, all the benefits of a congressional employee, and, moreover, we can immediately help you get rid of all your student loans."
“Most importantly,” she lowered her voice, “you can get away from all this endless community infighting in Pittsburgh and into a high-level platform that can really influence national policy.”
Faced with this unexpected opportunity, Sarah's heart began to race.
A five-figure annual salary, all student loans paid off, and entry into the power center of Washington.
This is an irresistible temptation for any young person who is about to graduate, is confused about the future, and is eager to prove their worth.
She inevitably wavered.
Unlike Frank, she didn't refuse outright on the spot. Instead, she gave a vague reply: "Thank you for your kind offer, Ms. Miller. This is a very good opportunity, and I will consider it carefully."
Leo watched all of this from a short distance away.
He couldn't hear anything, but he understood everything.
He knew Karen Miller's purpose.
Divide, disintegrate, and incorporate.
This seemingly celebratory banquet was actually a battleground against his emerging political power.
After the banquet, Leo and his group returned to the temporary housing at the construction site in Frank's old pickup truck.
The atmosphere in the car was unusually heavy; no one spoke.
Back in that familiar prefab office, Frank could no longer hold back.
He ripped off the tie that had been making him miserable all night and threw it heavily on the table.
He glared at Leo and said angrily, "Leo, did you see it all tonight? That's the ugly face of those Washington bureaucrats!"
"On stage, they praised us to the skies, but behind our backs, they wanted to tear us apart one by one and devour us!"
"They used us to win the election, and now they want to kick us to the curb! We can't keep hanging around with these bastards!"
Sarah sat in the corner without saying a word, but silently opened her laptop.
Frank's anger continued.
"Leo, we have money now! We have over two million dollars in funding for the city's revitalization plan! We have people! We have the support of the entire Pittsburgh working class! We have reputation! Now all of Pittsburgh knows your name, Leo Wallace!"
"We should strike while the iron is hot and immediately distance ourselves from that old fox, Murphy. We should organize a larger-scale workers' movement; we should storm City Hall and block that damned Morganfield building!"
"We should force them to give our working class more rights and more benefits! That was the fundamental purpose of starting this fight!"
Frank believed in the most direct and purest form of street politics and class confrontation.
Just then, Sarah, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.
"Frank, are you crazy?"
Her voice carried an uncontrollable disgust.
"We worked so hard to achieve this stable situation, and we finally secured funding that can truly be used to change the community. Now, our priority should be to quietly and effectively implement the 'Pittsburgh Revitalization One' project, spending every penny wisely to genuinely improve everyone's lives!"
"Instead of what you said, spending all day engaged in endless political infighting! I'm tired of all that damn dirt and intrigue!"
Frank heard Sarah's words, turned around, and stared at her fiercely.
"Tired?" he said. "I think you're blinded by Washington's annual salary!"
"Have you forgotten why we started this fight in the first place? Have you forgotten who saved the community center from the auction?"
"You've changed, Sarah! You've become just like those politicians who only think about climbing the ladder!"
Frank's words deeply stung Sarah.
She jumped up from her chair, her voice trembling with excitement.
"I've changed? Frank, what right do you have to say I've changed?"
"I just want to quietly do something meaningful, instead of being like you, spending your days only thinking about confrontation and playing the hero! You only want to use the sacrifices of others to satisfy your outdated, violent, and destructive revolutionary hero dream!"
"You don't care whether those workers can actually live a good life; you only care whether you can still stand in the street and shout like you used to!"
The two started arguing fiercely.
The conflict between them erupted completely at this moment.
This is the first time since the formation of Leo's small team that such a serious split has occurred.
Their demands all sounded reasonable, yet they seemed completely contradictory and irreconcilable.
Leo stood between them, saying nothing.
He felt like his head was about to explode.
Ultimately, the heated argument ended with Sarah storming out of the room.
"I'm going back to school tomorrow. I don't want to be with you bunch of lunatics anymore!"
After she finished speaking, she disappeared into the construction site late at night.
Frank angrily grabbed his coat and stormed out of the prefab house.
"Leo, think it over carefully," he said as his last words. "Think about what kind of leader you really want to be."
Leo was the only one left in the empty prefab house.
He sat there, facing the engineering drawings on the table that depicted the community redevelopment plan, and felt an unprecedented sense of loneliness.
He realized for the first time that what was more difficult than defeating a powerful enemy was bridging the rifts among his allies.