Forging America: My Campaign Manager is Roosevelt

Chapter 293 - 147: Declaration of Independence

The meeting room on the construction site was a makeshift structure, hastily assembled from a few steel plates.

A simple, long folding table sat in the center, surrounded by seven chairs borrowed from various offices. The leather on some of the cushions was already worn through.

The seven mayors who held the fate of the industrial cities of Western and Central Pennsylvania in their hands were now squeezed into this cramped space.

Exquisite ceramic coffee cups sat before them, steam rising from the coffee within, but no one touched them.

All eyes were fixed on the projection screen at the front of the room.

Ethan stood beside the screen and pressed a button on the remote.

A digital map of Pennsylvania appeared before them.

It was an industrial map.

Red lines represented railways, blue lines represented waterways, and gray lines represented interstate highways.

These lines converged at the shores of Lake Erie, the valleys of Scranton, and the riverbanks of Johnston, ultimately all leading to a single destination—Pittsburgh.

"Gentlemen."

Leo stood before the map, his laser pointer tracing a large circle on the screen.

The circle was centered on Pittsburgh, extending north to Lake Erie and east into the heart of the Appalachian Mountains.

"This is our domain."

"For the past forty years, we’ve been divided, isolated islands."

"Erie has been begging Harrisburg just to save its last machine tool factory."

"Scranton has been slashing prices for New York developers just to keep its cement plants running."

"We compete against each other, undercut one another, and have even come to blows in hearings, fighting over the same federal grant."

Leo’s laser pointer landed on Harrisburg.

"The State Government loves this situation. The more divided we are, the weaker we become. And the weaker we become, the more we have to depend on their transfer payments, on the scraps of the budget they deign to give us."

"This is how they control us."

Leo turned to face the seven men at the table.

"But today, we’re going to change the rules."

"I propose that we formally establish the Pennsylvania Industrial Revival Alliance."

"This won’t be some loose social club for mayors, nor one of those administrative forums that meets once a year for a photo op before disbanding."

"This is an alliance bound by mutual interest."

"A self-sufficient supply chain."

As if on cue, Ethan switched the slide.

A complex flowchart appeared on the screen.

Capital, materials, and information formed a perfect closed loop within the alliance.

"Take our current situation, for example. Pittsburgh has five hundred million US Dollars in bond funds. That makes us the financial center and logistics hub of this alliance."

Leo pointed to the core of the flowchart.

"We’ll issue the contracts, manage procurement, and provide liquidity."

"Erie, you have the best heavy industry base and skilled workforce in the state. In this alliance, you will be the manufacturing hub. All port machinery, structural steel for bridges, and heavy equipment will be produced in Erie."

"Scranton, you have cement and building materials. All infrastructure projects within the alliance will give your products priority."

"Johnston, you have supporting energy infrastructure and glass factories. You’ll be responsible for supplying the components and energy to power this massive industrial machine."

Leo leaned forward, planting his hands on the table.

"We are building a self-contained manufacturing ecosystem."

"But that doesn’t mean we’re closing our doors to the world. We’re not trying to build an isolated island."

Leo’s gaze sharpened.

"We’re going to turn this entire Rust Belt into a single, cohesive industrial machine. We’ll use internal orders to keep that machine running, guaranteeing that factories don’t close and workers don’t leave."

"Then, we’ll leverage our integrated industrial strength to compete externally."

"We’re going to compete for federal infrastructure contracts and fight for international market share. In the past, you were all on your own—high costs, small scale, unable to win anything. But now, we’ll be a supply chain giant, with a complete, vertically integrated system."

"As long as the factories are running and the workers are getting paid, they’ll spend their money locally. They’ll buy homes and raise families. The population won’t decline, and the lifeblood will start flowing back into our communities."

"Even if Harrisburg cuts off all our funding tomorrow, even if the politicians in Washington never give us a second glance."

"With our interconnected supply chains and this self-sustaining manufacturing loop, we can survive."

"And we’ll do it with dignity."

Right on cue, Ethan produced a contract titled "Memorandum of Regional Economic Cooperation" and placed it on the table.

Silence fell over the meeting room.

The mayors stared at the diagram on the screen, at the grand strategic vision it represented.

From a business perspective, it was an excellent plan.

It preserved the embers of their industries through mutual support, solved the problem of overcapacity in individual regions, and sought external growth by presenting a united front.

If this were a proposal in a corporate boardroom, it would pass unanimously, followed by a standing ovation.

But this was the political arena of Pennsylvania.

The men sitting around the table weren’t corporate executives, but elected mayors.

Each of them answered to a complex voter base, faced rivals eager to take their seats, and had their fates controlled by state legislators and party leaders.

The silence stretched on for a full minute.