“The majority of the voters have feelings about the issues, but they are passive and unsure as to what is the right attitude. We need to push them hard into making a choice between us and the Democrats. We need to pull them to our side. To do that, as pointed out by Clint and the French professor Paul Bellamy, we need to stir the people’s emotion. Just to say immigration, religion, globalization is not enough because there are a lot of people who want to be reasonable.
“How do we get the voters out of their homes and vote Republican? The most effective and proven way is to insinuate that our race is being threatened.”
Xander’s eyes were fixed on Wilcox, “Not the voters but the white voters.”
“Pardon me?”
“You mean to get the white voters out to vote Republican.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think we can win an election with only the white votes?” With his unfathomable face, no one was sure if it was Alexopoulos’ subtle disagreement with Wilcox’s method or just probing further its effectiveness. It did not matter to Wilcox; he did not ask or look for subtle disagreement. If anyone disagreed, he had to come out and speak clearly.
“Yes, we can, and we will,” Elrod answered Alexopoulos’ question, feeling the need to compensate Wilcox’s habit of talking little. This audience was not the campaign staff. They were, like Wilcox, his core supporters, his comrades in arm.
For many years, Elrod and his “people” had felt angry. They were mad at the way the country was moving, in their belief, in a wrong direction and more importantly out of his and his people’s control. He, his family, his friends, and his friends’ families were the heirs of the greatest fortunes ever created on this earth. They had had total control of all the money circulated in the United States and in the world. The politicians and the generals had their say, but the final decisions – whether to buttress the Shah of Iran, to fight the British and the French over the Suez Canal, to carve up the Palestine to give the Israelis a tiny sliver of land minus the huge West Bank making Israel more like a quaint village in the middle of a sea of Arabs, or to stay or withdraw from Viet Nam – had been in their hand. Their power had been absolute because they had monopolized the very means of power: money.
A few decades ago, they started seeing the erosion of their power, at first minuscule. But in a short period of time, they saw money were accumulated at a dizzy speed by people not related to them in anyway or known to them, by countries, which had heretofore been considered backward natural resource suppliers, and by kids who used to take their coats at the entrance of some club or fetch coffee at the snap of their fingers.
They were shaken because for the first time in generations they were suddenly faced with an unfamiliar and threatening aspect of life that these newcomers did not answer to them. It had been said, people worshipped money. But not Elrod and his friends, because worshipping implied a certain ignorance or mystery, something beyond understanding. They did understand and knew for sure that money was supreme and the power it afforded was absolute. That sacred source of power was now shared by others. At the current rate of their wealth accumulation, in a few decades if not a few years, their power would surpass theirs. They deeply feared that the threat to their position and status as the ruling class was real and imminent.
Elrod and his friends had decided to fight, which they now realized could not be left to others. They still had money. They could still fight and win because they knew how to control politicians. The next step would obviously be the control of the institutions.
To achieve this goal, just like any lofty goal, they needed allies. They needed a common purpose.
JOHN P. LE PHONG (This excerpt can be found in Facebook, X, and thelephongjournal.com)
