Guardians of the Secret
copyright © 1998 by Cary Shulman
All Rights Reserved
16.
Allan March was looking forward to the interview. He was having lunch at a Picadilly cafeteria in Memphis waiting for her to arrive. In his late forties, his youthful good looks and charisma were compared to John Kennedy's, his populist politics with Huey Long. Several people came up to shake his hand and wish him well as he was eating.
Susan Wingate, a liberal graduate of Smith in her early twenties, didn't share her editor's enthusiasm for the project. One of March's well-wishers was leaving as she walked up.
"Playing the man of the people, Congressman."
"Try the gumbo before you accuse me of that. And until I'm knighted it's just Allan."
March extended his hand. Susan had to smile as she shook it. March motioned and Susan sat down.
"You want something to eat or drink?"
"No thanks, I got something on the plane. My editor was surprised to get your call."
"I knew you couldn't get Eleanor Roosevelt, so I volunteered to take up the slack. Seriously, you've got a point of view that's not for sale and I've got a point of view that's not for sale, that's a start. Don't you get tired preaching to the converted?"
"Never. There's so few of us, it's like family."
March smiled and then continued. "I wanted to try something different. They're always talking about politics as the art of the possible, finding areas of agreement. And it's a real art, believe me. But when you look at leadership, really great leaders, it's more like the art of the impossible, the ability to unite opposites. The art of the possible is getting people to act in their common interests. The art of the impossible is getting people to act in ways that are beyond their interests."
"You're talking about charisma and what I've read is that you have gobs of that."
"I'm sure what you've read is that I'm outspoken and dangerous."
"Okay, that is what I've read."
"Why is everybody so afraid of being outspoken? It's always dangerous. Bobby Kennedy was dangerous. Barry Goldwater was dangerous. And as I remember, it turned out he wasn't the one that nearly led us into World War Three. People seem to prefer the silent types that sell out the country without a word."
Wingate took out her notepad and a small tape recorder.
"Speaking of dangerous. You've certainly been very outspoken about the various militia groups."
"It's a matter of being driven to desperate acts because the Federal government doesn't represent them. It amounts to taxation without representation. That sort of thing has well known results in our history. But I think in all this these people have lost sight of a greater danger."
"Materialism."
"You have done your homework. I think the cold war distorted our perceptions. We made a mistake in thinking Communism was the only Godless materialism threatening our country. It was a natural mistake at the time. Communism was very up front ideologically, very aggressive. So you could see them coming. By contrast multinational corporatism doesn't announce its ideological agenda. But it's as big a threat as Communism ever was."
"I don't think you're going to make any friends on corporate boardrooms with that message."
"As a matter of fact I already have friends on corporate boards, personal ones. But they're too busy competing with each other to pay any attention to where the whole thing is leading us. I could do a whole hour on corporatism and its history, but let's just say there was nothing natural about their existence. I don't think the Supreme Court had any right to wave its magic wand and turn a corporation into a person."
"You're talking about the Santa Clara decision."
"Right. The people never had a choice, it was decided by a bunch of lawyers and the courts. The corporations simply bought their privileged status and legalized a form of idolatry. Beyond that the introduction of a single valued profit system into our traditional system of values has been catastrophic. I like to compare it to the introduction of Kudzu into the South. It's spread everywhere with disastrous results."
"And you can't serve both God and Mammon."
"I don't believe that people are even aware they're making a choice any more."
"On the subject of religion, you don't believe in separation of church and state, "
"Church and state yes, there are many churches, but not God and state. When it comes to values there's never a vacuum. If one principle doesn't govern our government then another will, in this case profit. If profit comes first, then Government is for sale, our land is for sale, our morals are for sale."
"Speaking of morals you've had a lot to say about drugs. You compared it to oil, I assume because they're two of the most valuable commodities on earth."
"That's true. But they're also both lubricants. Without them the wheels of civilization would come to a grinding halt. Can you imagine Washington without Prozac?"
"Talk about the great depression."
March smiled at her joke and went on. "You know one of the first things built when people started civilization, were granaries for making beer. The workers had to be compensated for the extreme inequality of the system. Civilization from the beginning has been unjust, unequal, and uncivil. And drugs were there to keep it that way, an instrument of social policy as well as the misguided means of the individual trying to cope with that fact."
"So what's changed? You're not planning on creating a just society?"
"Only time and the people's will can do that. But in the meantime how about a real war on drugs?"
Susan made a face.
"Did I detect a note of skepticism."
"An entire symphony."
"No wonder. Only one thing worse than having to have a government, is having an impotent one. Credibility doesn't come from a bloated bureaucracy, but from doing what you say you're going to do. If you say as numerous Presidents have, that you're going to have a war on drugs, you better have just that, and proceed to win it."
"And how would you do that?"
"I have something concrete to announce about that shortly."
"That sounds uncomfortably familiar."
"It does, I admit. Same words, but I think you'll see I mean them."
"A lot has been made of your connection with the mob during the time you were with the teamsters. That maybe your effectiveness in dealing with them was you were part of the family."
"Fighting them I got to know them pretty well. It's funny about their use of the teamster pension fund. They went about it in a totally corrupt way, buying union officials. And I was naturally against that. But it also made me think. The pension fund was a hell of a lot of money. It shouldn't be used to illegally finance mob interests, but what about the practice of putting union money into mutual funds which invested in corporations that took their jobs overseas? It was their money, why not use it in their interest?"
"I think there's been some talk about moving in that direction."
"Finally. But beyond that I felt unions had to change or die. It wasn't enough to just organize workers for jobs created by someone else when that someone else had the power and privilege to up and take those jobs overseas. That way people get the idea you can't do that much for them and they don't join, and the unions shrink and pretty soon you're not organizing anybody. It's an infantile position, since they have to go hat in hand to the owner. I felt it was time the take responsibility for the whole kit and caboodle. I was pushing for them to incorporate."
"Union Incorporated? Were you serious?"
"After all I've had to say about corporations, not really. But it was a way to try to get everyone to rethink the whole thing. Get a hold of their money and get a hold of job creation. The idea was that they would take on the decision making process in order to create jobs. That scared the shit out of them, since they had the courage to oppose management but not to manage themselves.
"I don't blame them, that's a lot to take on."
"Sure it is. But it would have made the idea of unions that much more attractive because they were going to create a job for you. If they didn't have the expertise right away to do it, train someone and in the meantime hire some entrepreneurs. I liked the idea of the unions hiring venture capitalists, but it was all too much for them. And some of my political stances were just too right wing for them."
"Like what?"
"They were very internationalist in outlook. The whole world was going that way and meanwhile I'm for nationalizing everything."
"Nationalism in one country, you think it will work?"
"Very clever. Leave it to you to get me in the same boat as Joe Stalin. It's simple. We've got the government in the hands of private interests. Corporations in the hands of foreign interests. An army in the hands of the UN. Schools and unions in the hands of bureaucrats. I just want to see them all back in the hands of the American people."
"Your rhetoric's certainly warmed and ready, when are you going to run?"
"Speaking of warmed and ready," March changed the subject as one of his assistants walked up with a tray of food and drink and set it on the table. It brought a smile to Susan's face.
"Is that great timing, or does he always appear when you have a tough question?"
"Always. He's waiting tray in hand wherever I go. I know you said you weren't hungry, but how can we share ideas and not food. It's a crime in the South."
"Let us season together. Wasn't that one of President Johnson's favorite expressions."
March shook his head in admiration. "I knew I would like you."
copyright © 1998 by Cary Shulman
All Rights Reserved