America: From a Fallen Child Star to the Head of the University of the West

Chapter 111 Subject to Others

"Where is Mr. Pan now?" Matthew Chen thought to himself as he placed his phone on the table, screen down.

Twenty minutes have passed.

He stared at the unseen window to the comments section like a fool.

"You shouldn't be looking at those." Liam Patterson sat across from him, holding a stack of printed drafts of the Green Party cooperation proposal, but he could tell that Matthew's attention was clearly not on the paper.

"Kran's supporters only have three tricks up their sleeves," Liam continued to reassure him. "They just keep repeating the same old story: Mr. Pan has a list but isn't releasing it, he's involved in the Avalon Foundation himself, and he's a paranoid. There's no point in arguing with them."

This argument is nothing more than saying: Kobe did it too!

"I know it's pointless," Matthew said, "but I watched it anyway, and it's hard not to."

He picked up his phone again and unlocked the screen. The latest highly-rated comment came from a user with the ID "Truth Hunter":

Sean Penn says he has a list, but where is the real list? How many have been leaked since he announced his candidacy?

Kran is one, but who are the rest? Oh, by the way, in his latest interview he said, "For my personal safety, I will not disclose it for the time being."

Hilarious! What's the difference between that and telling a scammer, "I'll pay you back tomorrow"? Paranoia is a medical condition; I suggest getting it treated early.

Below, Sean's supporters replied:

[At least $300,000 of Krak's campaign funds are related to Avalon, which is already a public record. You can say you don't know, but you can't say you didn't see it, can you?]

[Three hundred thousand? A senator's fundraising dinner costs five million, what can three hundred thousand buy? A signed photo? Don't fantasize about an emperor tilling the land with a golden hoe! Besides, it was donated by PAC, not received by Crane himself. Sean Penn's vague accusations are just riding the coattails of someone else's fame. Does he really think he's some kind of innocent saint?]

Matthew stared at the words, his thumb hovering above the screen.

He recalled what Sean had said when he returned to headquarters the previous night: "Don't be controlled by others."

For a moment, he really wanted to throw his phone out the window.

"Matthew," Liam called out to him.

Matthew looked up.

"Professor Greenberg emailed again," Liam said. "He asked how our considerations were going. He's willing to write the policy analysis and could even send us a draft in advance for reference. But he wants us to at least make an informal statement of intent to cooperate at the Green Party National Committee's spring conference."

In political language, "informal" is equivalent to "formal but without a signature." Even someone as inexperienced as Matthew understood this perfectly.

"What do you think we should say in response?" Liam asked.

Matthew looked out the window. The afternoon sun in Pasadena was intense, and the occasional dog walker passed by on the street. Only the two of them were at headquarters now; Kelly had gone to contact fundraisers, Mr. Carter and Mr. Pan had gone to Bakersfield, and Miss Rachel had gone with them.

"Sigh," Matthew suddenly said, "Liam, don't you feel like we're stuck in an either-or dilemma?"

Liam paused, then asked, "What do you mean?"

"Either accept the Greens' conditions and be labeled a left-wing coalition, losing the ability to attract centrist voters; or reject them and lose a progressive academic force willing to actively support us," Matthew said. "Then people in Krakow say online that we're just rehashing old news and have persecution complexes."

He paused.

"It seems like whatever I do is wrong."

Liam paused for a moment: "Professor Greenberg said something on the phone yesterday that I didn't quite understand at the time. He said that politics is not about choosing between being completely clean and being completely unclean; politics is about choosing the less dirty option from a bunch of unclean options and then figuring out how to clean it up."

'

Matthew turned to look at him: "You believe that?"

Liam hesitated for a moment: "I don't know. But I feel that if we never choose, we'll never have a chance to change anything."

"He wants us to cooperate with him, that's why he said that."

"Um?

"Professor Greenberg wants to cooperate because the Green Party needs external allies to amplify their issues." Matthew's speech quickened, a habit he had when organizing his thoughts. "And Mr. Pan wants to remain independent because he doesn't want to be limited by any fixed label. These two goals may not necessarily conflict, but they will inevitably conflict elsewhere."

"Oh? Then what's the conflict?"

"The conflict lies in the framework," Matthew said. "I thought about it all night, and I believe Professor Greenberg defines cooperation as an alliance between the Green Party and Sean Penn's campaign. Within this framework, we are forced to make a binary choice: accept or reject."

He paused for a moment.

"But what if we change the framework to 'a common front against the Krasnian and the old politics it represents'?"

Liam blinked. "You mean—"

“We’re not allied with the Greens,” Matthew said. “But we can work with them against Crane. This is part of the Badger Hunt plan, to build an information warfare alliance against Crane on the broadest possible scale, uniting members of academia to attack him. Yes, the Greens have a voter base on environmental issues and an active community network in California’s Central Valley. Crane happens to have a lot of attackable records on oil and gas policies in those areas.”

He spoke faster and faster: "We don't need the Green Party to endorse Mr. Pan, nor do we need Mr. Pan to attend Green Party events. We only need them to stand with us on one thing: exposing the hollowness of Crane's twenty-year electoral service record, and the historical ties between his financial backers and the Avalon Foundation."

Liam's eyes lit up, but quickly became cautious again: "Would Professor Greenberg agree? His original intention was to establish a closer relationship between Mr. Pan and the Green Party."

"So we don't want him to feel like this is a downgrade," Matthew said. "We want him to feel like this is an upgrade. From a one-off campaign partnership to a long-term policy alliance. We're not asking the Greens to endorse Mr. Pan; we're inviting the Greens to join a battle they've always wanted to fight."

He took out his phone and opened the email application.

"I'm going to write him an email," Matthew said, "to propose a new collaboration plan."

Liam watched him type, paused for a few seconds, and said, "Before that, we need Mr. Pan's permission."

Matthew's finger paused on the screen for a moment.

"Liam, we can't always rely on Mr. Pan. Remember back in Berkeley? We managed without him, didn't we?"

"But his final appearance elevated the entire meeting to a new level," Liam frankly stated his opinion.

"But—" Matthew paused, then lowered his head, "I admit Mr. Pan is very intelligent and wise, but are you content to follow him blindly? We follow him not because of who he is, but because of the beliefs he represents!"

"Is that so?" Liam frowned.

"Isn't that right?" Matthew said with a wry smile. "Don't—don't be controlled by others."

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