A Voice in the Wilderness Read Free

nefarious or well connected into the murky corners of national and global politics.”
    “Then who are you?” Birnbaum said.
    “As I’ve told you before, I represent a group who wants to offer you a solution to your current set of problems,” Washington said.
    Birnbaum almost asked, Who are your clients, really? but was distracted by what Washington said. “And what exactly is my problem?”
    “Namely, that you’re shedding listeners at an accelerating rate on your way to becoming a has-been in the national political conversation,” Washington said.
    Birnbaum thought about arguing that assertion but realized that would not actually get him any answers, so he let it go. “And how do your friends propose to fix that?” he asked instead.
    “By suggesting a topic for you to consider,” Washington said.
    “Is this a bribe?” Birnbaum asked. “A payment for espousing a certain view? Because I don’t do that.” He had in fact done it, once or twice or ten or more times, in deals that were in point of fact often negotiated at Bonner’s. Birnbaum squared it with his morals by figuring they were usually things he was likely to say anyway, so what he was doing was merely illegal, not unethical. However, one always led with being nonbribable. It gave those attempting to bribe a sense of accomplishment.
    “There is no money to be exchanged,” Washington said.
    Birnbaum made that face again. Washington laughed. “Mr. Birnbaum, you have more than enough money. For now, at least. What my clients are offering is something much more valuable: the ability to not only climb back up to the position of fame and personal power that you held not too long ago, but to exceed it. You were the number four audio talker in the land once, although not for very long. My clients are offering you a chance to go to number one and stay there, for as long as you want to be there.”
    “And how are they going to manage that?” Birnbaum wanted to know.
    “Mr. Birnbaum, I assume, given your profession, you know who William Randolph Hearst was,” Washington said.
    “He was a newspaper publisher,” Birnbaum said. That was the extent of his knowledge; Birnbaum’s knowledge of American history was solid regarding the founding and the last fifty years, and everything else was a bit of a blank.
    “Yes,” Washington said. “A newspaper publisher. In the late 1800s the United States and Spain were warming up for a war over Cuba, and Hearst sent an illustrator to Cuba to make pictures of the event. When the illustrator got there, he sent a telegram to Hearst saying that as far as he could see, there was no war coming and that he was going home. Hearst sent back that he should stay and said, ‘You furnish the pictures, and I will furnish the war.’ And he did.”
    Birnbaum looked at Washington blankly.
    “Mr. Birnbaum, my clients need someone to furnish the pictures, as it were,” Washington said. “Someone to start a discussion. Once the discussion starts, my clients can take care of the rest. But it has to start and it has to start somewhere other than with my clients.”
    “I furnish the pictures and they will furnish the war,” Birnbaum said. “What’s the war, here?”
    “Not a real war,” Washington said. “And indeed, what you’d be saying could prevent a real war.”
    Birnbaum thought about this. “No money, though,” he said.
    Washington smiled. “No,” he said. “Just audience, fame and power. Money often follows those, however.”
    “And you can guarantee the first three,” Birnbaum said.
    “Furnish the pictures, Mr. Birnbaum,” Washington said, “and the war comes. Pretty damn quickly, too, I would add.”

    Birnbaum’s opportunity to furnish the pictures came the very next day.
    “Can we talk about world government?” Jason from Canoga Park was saying to Birnbaum. Jason from Canoga Park was one of Birnbaum’s most reliable listeners in that sooner or later everything came back to world government, the