Chapter 1014: Standing Tall, Seeing Far, and the Sweet Taste

Mr. Potter Jr. looked at the man who had once been like a god radiating golden light in his life, a man who could cover the very sky. Seeing him now reveal such a decadent aura, he closed his mouth, despite the many words he had originally intended to say.

The sun will rise, and it will set.

Just like people; there are peaks, and there are curtains falling.

Senator Potter was clearly on the decline now. Once he left the Senate, he would be nothing more than a "partisan free agent."

To put it plainly, he would have a partisan background but hold no position—neither within the party nor in any government department. He would just be an ordinary person who was not so ordinary.

The chances of him continuing to shine in politics were slim. Although many senators go into lobbying after retirement, those who truly go far on this path are usually the figures who once dominated an era.

For example, former presidents or senators like Cleveland. They hold vast amounts of government secrets, possess incredibly complex social connections, and hold many favor-cards they can utilize.

They do not become "weak" because of retirement; some such politicians actually become stronger after they retire!

Because they are no longer politicians, they can use more despicable and dirty means without worrying about how exposure might affect their political careers.

It is like a marriage problem.

A president cheating allows him to voluntarily apologize to the whole nation and resign in disgrace, but for an ordinary person, let alone cheating, even if he stripped his wife and mistress naked and put them together, people would only say he is a "flamboyant guy."

No one feels an ordinary person should apologize to all of society just because they did something immoral. Therefore, when these people become lobbyists or unofficial political forces, they become freer and have greater influence.

But Senator Potter was clearly not that kind of person. Even at his peak, he was merely a senator within another political group, not the head of that group.

So, after he retired from the Senate, his retirement life would be quite dull, and he would no longer be able to access various interests as he did now.

Interest is a strange thing.

Those who don't have it want it; those who have it want more. It is no longer just a simple interest; it is a manifestation of one's own value.

This damned capitalist society not only attaches many labels to everyone but also marks everyone with a price.

Seeing Mr. Potter Jr. remain silent, Senator Potter spoke more bluntly, "I did it all for you, you bastard!"

"Actually, their 'warning' to me can, in some respects, be said to mean my operations in this matter were very successful. Otherwise, they wouldn't be so... agitated."

"I used the word 'agitated' because I cannot find other vocabulary to express my current feelings for the time being."

"They must have been somewhat ashamed and angry to have someone do this. I have had some substantial impact on them."

When he said this, Senator Potter's face seemed to reveal a look of smugness. This was indeed his true thought; he really did think that way.

If he were just a flea to people like Senator Cleveland, they wouldn't pay him any attention at all.

Mr. Potter Jr. asked, "Then what do you plan to do next?"

"Continue pushing your anti-war stance?"

Senator Potter's face showed some embarrassment. The question Mr. Potter Jr. asked happened to hit the one he least wanted to answer.

After all, as a father, he hoped to leave a positive image for his child, but now, he had to personally shatter that image.

"I will consider stopping the continued promotion of this matter. Their ability to attack me this time was just a warning."

"But next time, I'm afraid it might not be just that."

Mr. Potter Jr. breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried that his old-fashioned senator father would continue to insist on his ideas. This showed that his father's brain was not yet malfunctioning.

"I am glad you can think this way...", he said, frowning as he fell into deep thought.

"What are you thinking about?", Senator Potter asked.

His son replied, "I'm thinking about whether they will stop me from entering Congress because of your affairs."

"After all...", these words were not easy to say. He couldn't just say his father had done something stupid, so he would be ostracized by Congress; that would be too hurtful.

Senator Potter didn't take it to heart, "You can oppose me; that is also what I wanted to say. You can build yourself into a positive person who favors the war."

"And I have already thought of a way out for you."

Mr. Potter Jr. looked at his father, a look of inquiry on his face.

Besides thinking that the anti-war matter was a bit stupid, he still admired his father. Not everyone could work in the Senate until retirement.

At the same time, this also proved another point: Senator Potter's promotion of anti-war affairs was not because he really wanted to do these things, but because he was yielding to the arrangements of interests, or had other political purposes.

Senator Potter got up and opened his safe in front of his son; these things would all be inherited by his son in the future.

He took out a document from inside, handed it to his son, and signaled for him to open it and take a look.

After Mr. Potter Jr. opened the document, he was quickly attracted by the content inside. He read it very seriously.

This document was not long, totaling only seven or eight pages, along with some photographs.

He spent about twenty minutes carefully reading these documents and looking through all the photos. Finally, he took a deep breath and looked at his father with eyes filled with light and admiration.

A moment ago, he might have wondered if his father was really old and senile, but at this moment, he felt he still had a long way to go before reaching Senator Potter!

He was still the omnipotent "Congressional Senator Mr. Potter" he had in mind when he was young!

"Why don't you submit this document to Congress?"

"It would quickly bring you back into people's sight and make you the focus of attention!"

The content of this document was somewhat... shocking?

Mr. Potter Jr. didn't know how to describe it. He couldn't quite describe his situation now. With his emotions constantly fluctuating, he felt his vocabulary becoming increasingly poor.

This document was about the three northern countries. It used some data to explain that after the Federation participated in the world war, their military spending increased from less than 1.3 percent of their total GDP to 7 percent.

It detailed the changes in some of their domestic military enterprises, as well as the overall integration and mobilization of resources.

This document argued that the three northern countries had already formed a secret military alliance aimed at countering the increasingly powerful Federation.

They had deployed troops at the border and cut off border traffic; this was a very dangerous manifestation.

Once certain specific conditions were met, it was very likely that a new round of military conflict would break out on the Federation's home soil!

The content of this document was not much, but it was definitely heavyweight. Once taken to Congress to be discussed, it was very likely to become the next target for those war hawks.

They intended to annex the Xiang Yalan region, so why not continue to march north and swallow the countries to the north?

Would such a larger Federation entity appear on the world map, adding new chips for the Federation and these ambitious people to dominate the world?

Mr. Potter Jr. believed there was a high possibility of achieving this, and his father, Senator Potter, might also join Senator Cleveland's political group and become one of its members.

But Senator Potter shook his head at this time, "I am already old. Even if they let me continue working, I might not be able to work for long."

"And, even if I join their group, I will still be a marginal person because of the things I did before."

"They won't really put me at the center of this political group, so whether I submit it or not, the difference is actually not big."

"On the contrary, I think this matter should be done by you."

"You are very young, and you are my child. From a bloodline perspective, you possess the bloodline of the upper class; you are born with that ticket, that key!" "When the viewpoint you propose aligns with the interest orientation of the mainstream group in Congress, they will amplify everything about you."

"You standing so clearly on their side and criticizing some of my ideas can, from the side, prove to the whole society that they are correct and I am wrong."

"Only in this way will you have more opportunities to successfully enter Congress."

He looked at Mr. Potter Jr. with very kind eyes, "I only have one son. Besides you, no one else can inherit everything I have."

"If you can go further by standing on my 'corpse', then my job now is to play the role of my own corpse well."

Mr. Potter Jr. was speechless for a long time. Finally, he could only take a deep breath, "I will do it."

Senator Potter felt that everything he endured today was worth it.

He revealed some smiles, "You study this material well. After a period of time, after the New Year, find an opportunity to split out some things and then throw them out."

"For example... the growth of the three northern countries' military spending poses a hidden threat to the Federation. Use such a topic to open up people's attention to you, and then take out the things inside bit by bit."

"Perhaps you won't need to wait for the war to end to have the opportunity to enter Congress."

The rotation time for senators is relatively long, but for representatives, it is very short.

Representatives cannot be said to be unimportant; they can only be said to be "not that important."

There are official statistics that all federal presidents born from Congress came from the Senate.

The only one related to the House of Representatives only obtained the party nomination and won the general election after being promoted to a senator.

But one cannot say that the House of Representatives is completely unimportant because of this. They also have their own work, and the House of Representatives also hosts some important committee work.

Therefore, representatives are not all replaced every two years; doing so would have a great impact on the work of Congress.

If they were replaced every two years, the newly arrived committee members might have to be replaced just as they became familiar with their work, which would be of no help to the advancement of the entire Congress's work.

Therefore, as long as they do well, representatives can also work for a long time, and then find an opportunity to be promoted from a representative to a senator, and then roam Congress, or find a way to reach that nominally highest peak!

The father and son discussed these issues for a long time. After all, it concerned the future of the family and the future development direction of Mr. Potter Jr., so they had to treat it cautiously.

The two talked freely about some ideas for the future in the study. Outside, the matter of Senator Potter being attacked was constantly spreading.

Many people wanted to know what exactly happened. Although this matter was a bit over the line, they attacked a top politician, but it couldn't be said to have triggered the punishment system of the rules because Senator Potter did not suffer any harm.

Red paint, a dead dog with its mouth sewn shut—calling it an attack was more like a warning, and not long ago, Senator Potter had opened fire on the war hawks in Congress.

So people almost subconsciously focused their attention on Senator Cleveland.

"I was just a bit angry... don't worry, we are all our own people, nothing will go wrong."

"And...", Senator Cleveland's expression carried a kind of arrogance, "even if something went wrong, what could go wrong?"

This sentence left the guy on the other end of the phone not knowing what to say for a moment. It was a bit like "Who is the person below the hall accusing the official?"

Now, Senator Cleveland could control about one-third of the seats in the Senate; this was already an invincible position.

He might not be able to pass the project of a proposal, but he could deny the project of a proposal; it was a bit like a veto power.

Possessing a veto power, even if someone wanted to find trouble with him because of this matter, he wouldn't care at all.

The voice of the Social Party Committee Chairman had some slight dissatisfaction, "You should be more cautious, Jeffrey (Senator Cleveland's name). We are politicians, not gangsters; we must pay attention to the influence."

Hearing the other party say this, Senator Cleveland could only slightly express himself to be less flamboyant, "I was just expressing an emotion, Mr. Chairman."

"You know, our work is very busy now, and everyone knows we are doing something that is good for the Federation, for the federal people, and for everyone here."

"But there are a few people who, for the sake of some insignificant personal interests, jump out to accuse us of doing wrong."

"They disregard the facts and insist on saying we have harmed this country and harmed the people here, bringing serious negative influence to me and affecting my work. You say, can I not be angry?"

"And look, I didn't have anyone beat him up; I just scared him a little. If you want an explanation, I can have the person responsible for this matter turn themselves in."

An "explanation" is effective at any time. Hearing Senator Cleveland say this, the Social Party Committee Chairman also slightly relaxed his tone.

After all, the Social Party now has some public backlash because of the current president. They are not sure whether this war can eliminate these backlashes. If they cannot be eliminated, it is very likely that the Liberal Party will have a new president.

This also means that the seats in the Senate are very likely to undergo new changes. The Liberal Party's seats might catch up to the Social Party's seats, or even achieve an overtake.

Once they lose the important position of the majority party leader in Congress, the Social Party's influence on Congress will decline. At this time, Senator Cleveland, who has great influence in the Senate, has become a springboard for the Social Party to continue controlling the Senate.

His importance is beyond doubt; even the Social Party Committee Chairman must show a certain amount of respect.

Hearing Senator Cleveland say this, he couldn't really let the other party give everyone an "explanation"; if he did that, the conversation would be dead.

So he laughed twice, "Look at you, you're already fifty years old and still have such a straight temper. I was just saying."

"After all, no one wants to see terror politics make a comeback."

"Since you say there won't be any follow-up to this matter, then I choose to believe you."

"Potter over there must have noticed something too. You had better be able to talk to him and get him to stabilize."

Sometimes some things are almost transparent, but people just don't have evidence. This is why the Federation is a country that talks about evidence and procedural justice; only in this way is it convenient for the masters to operate from within.

Senator Cleveland agreed. Afterwards, the two chatted a few more times and hung up the phone.

After putting down the phone, Senator Cleveland shook his head. The older these people get, the smaller their courage becomes.

The matter this time let him taste a little sweetness.

Senator Potter's anti-war stance wasn't just once or twice. Since the outbreak of the war, he had become a spokesperson for some foreign forces in Congress, fighting against them and the mainstream groups every day.

War brings destruction, peace is what human society pursues eternally, and so on—and he also wanted everyone to abandon prejudices and abandon war. It was annoying to death.

For two or three years, there hadn't been a good day, but after doing this today, he had already heard Senator Potter's compromise in the phone call just now, which gave him a feeling of sudden enlightenment.

People are afraid of the terror politics period of the past; at that time, many federal government officials would encounter assassinations.

Members of Congress, presidents, government officials, cabinet members—they had all suffered assassinations, and there were various death threats.

That is why they hated those who controlled this country through terror politics so much later, and why they opposed it so much.

In the past, Senator Cleveland was also such a person. He didn't like such crude means; he preferred to make political opponents bow their heads through political means, rather than violence, fear, or anything else.

But trying it for the first time today, he felt that this method indeed had its outstanding aspects; at least it was very effective and very rapid.

Senator Potter, who hadn't shut up for two or three years, shut up after just one hour... ===== CHAPTER 1015 =====