The Kingmaker
Publisher's Note: I thought I'd try my hand at a work of fiction rather than a blog post or an editorial. They say life imitates art. Sometimes art can imitate life. For your consideration, a short story set in the fictional town of Frontera, Texas.
Frontera had come a long way. From being a site of a Mexican-American War battlefield, to a town where Texas Rangers kept a rusty old six-shooter in their saddle bag to plant on an unarmed Mexican they had shot, to town where bandits shot up downtown during a drunken night of partying, Frontera had managed to move forward.
Over the generations, Frontera had kept changing. The bandidos and murderers had traded in their guns for fountain pens. Instead of demanding the people's money at gun and knifepoint, they decided to clean up their appearance, dress up in fancy clothes, and become servants of the people.
They became politicians.
Running the city the bandidos soon discivered they could make more money than they ever would robbing a bank or holding up a train.
As the years went on the noble politicians were replaced by unscrupulous dastardly men who would spend more time lining their pockets with payoffs and mordidas rarher than do good for the city.
Alberto Rodriguez was a recent transplant to Frontera, having arrived from a neighboring town about 50 miles away. Educated at the university in Austin, he found politics intriguing. He attended the weekly city council meetings and banged his fist on the lectern placed among the gallery so residents could address the council members.
The city's leaders listened at first but would learn to tune Alberto out as his comments grew stranger and stranger. Whenever Alberto would approach the antique podium, constructed from an old mesquite tree that had been felled by the hurricane of 1933, council members would often times chuckle under their breaths or utter words of frustration.
Ay, Dios. Here he comes again. What does he want now?
Eventually Alberto would grow tired of being ignored and marginalized. He settled on a solution — he would run for city council. He would change the system from within. He would be Frontera's white knight. He would be what he always wanted to be. Loved. Respected. Admired.
The savior.
Election time rolled around. He went to city hall and filled out all the forms he needed to fill out. He would gather enough signatures he needed in order to appear on the ballot. It was all set. Alberto's time was now.
However, Alberto forgot one critical thing — in order to get elected, you need to endear yourself to the voters. The whole time Alberto would rant, rave, and bang his fist on the lectern, he never failed to let everyone know just how right he was and how wrong everybody else was; how smart he was and how ignorant and uneducated everyone else was. Hardly ever a day passed when he corrected someone, or told someone just how wrong they were and how right he was. He was arrogant, self-centered, condescending, and loved the sound of his own voice.
The voters let him know just how much of a joke others thought he was.
He lost against his opponent in a landslide.
Undeterred, he ran for office four years later. The people of Frontera have a long memory.
He was annihilated again.
After sulking and vowing he would never run again, he had an epiphany. While in his dark musty house, he camebe up with an idea.
If I can't be king, I'll be the kingmaker.
He soon began backing certain candidates for office, even ones who had been his opponent in the past. He tried running campaigns, crafting candidates' platforms, and convincing others to run in his place.
Lambs to the slaughter. Not a single one of Alberto's candidates would win.
Enter Stephanie Gonzalez-Jacobson. Stephanie saw herself as a great conservative leader, although she had been defeated in every single election she'd entered. Congress, the State House, and local office — all losses. A conservative had a hard enough time getting votes in South Texas, but a fundamentalist conservative who believed in ridiculous conspiracy theories had even less of a chance. She was more of a punchline than a serious legitimate candidate for any office.
She figured she'd throw her tinfoil hat in the ring one more time. The incumbent for the office she would eventually try wouldn't seek reelection. She figured this would be her chance. She got herself a campaign manager who was every bit as much of a right-wing, pro-life, Bible hugging Republican as Stephanie was.
They started their campaign off relatively quietly. They didn't attack any of their opponents and somehow Stephanie managed to end up in a runoff election against another idealist who thought he could change Frontera for the better.
But where Alberto failed with his abrasive attitude and Stephanie with her radical conspiracy theories, David San Miguel succeeded. Always subscribing to the belief one attracts more bees with honey rather than vinegar, David tried helping others and listening to their ideas rather than always telling them they were wrong. He served on several organizations devoted to improving the quality of life in Frontera. He was also a member of the LGBTQ community, and served on a city committee dedicated to serve the growing population of people fwho identified as LGBTQ.
Alberto saw his opportunity to try and be the kingmaker once again. He asked Stephanie's campaign manager for a meeting and told her about a surefire, guaranteed plan to get Stephanie elected. All she had to do was prey on people's prejudice and hatred for those who the ultra-conservative Alberto and Stephanie thought were different.
There had to be older Christian and traditional people in Frontera who just couldn't stand the thought of a gay person in a leadership role. How would that work? Gay people couldn't possibly serve heterosexual people properly. They're just going to want to promote a gay agenda, open gay businesses, and pass ordinances for gay people.
But the worst thing of all — if they talked to your children they were going to make your children become gay.
Although Stephanie was vehemently against anything, and everybody, homosexual, she couldn't just come out and say it out loud...
Could she?
"Don't worry," Alberto calmly told Stephanie. "I have an idea, and it's something you've done in the past."
Alberto's idea was simple. He'd create a fictitious organization that would create a political ad and mail it out to everyone in the district. It'll say voting for David is a vote for a radical gay agenda that's going to turn the entire city gay, and if you love America and strong, traditional family values, you won't vote for David.
Stephanie loved the idea. She had absolutely no problem getting down in the mud and running a filthy campaign — she had done it in the past. She had spread misinformation and salacious rumors about opponents in the past. She was a firm believer in the Al Davis philosophy.
Just win, baby. Whatever it takes.
Enter the Frontera Family Values Alliance. There was no such organization as the Frontera Family Values Alliance, but that's the organization that appeared on the bottom of the hateful, homophobic attack ad put out against David.
The inappropriate ad failed. Miserably.
Instead of gathering support for Stephanie, it galvanized scores of people and organizations who were against hate and bigotry. Dozens of city and state leaders rallied to throw their support behind David. He received endorsements and statements of support from members of the media, the mayor, other council members, Rio County politicians, and even the state representative in Austin released a statement denouncing the ad and the sentiment begind it.
Worse yet, Stephanie denied knowing anything about the ad but never denounced it or the ideas expressed in it.
Branded a homophobe, Stephanie would go on to be trounced on election day. Alberto would add another failure in his bid to be the man behind the curtain yet again. Stephanie and Alberto would fade into obscurity and never seek public office again.
David was sworn in as the newest member of the Frontera City Council. Would he serve the people well? Only time will tell. One thing's for certain — anybody would be better than someone who would lead by spreading fear and hate.
Is it better to be the king or the kingmaker? Alberto would never know.
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