The Lincoln Myth(101)
“We can do this, Charles,” Rowan said. “We can leave this godforsaken country, with all of its laws and rules and taxes and problems. We don’t need it any longer. We’ve done polls. The people are solidly behind secession. Utahans will approve any resolution calling for it.”
“Do you realize what will happen,” Daniels asked, “if you go through with this? The United States is a world power.”
“And losing Utah will change that?” he asked. “You’re being ludicrous.”
“Unfortunately, it won’t stop with Utah. Which is your plan. Other states will follow. You’re right, our problems run deep. People are ready to flee. They think there’s something better. But I’m here to tell you there’s not. For all its faults this is the best damn political system man has ever conceived. It does work. But only as a unit of fifty states. I can’t allow you to destroy that.”
“Even if the founders themselves said it was okay?”
Snow sighed. “Thaddeus, our own founders said a lot of things, too. Some of it was wise, some nonsense. It’s our duty, our responsibility, to ignore the bad and keep the good. Times have changed. What may have worked in 1787 no longer works today.”
“That’s not for us to decide.” His voice rose. “It’s for the people to choose. They have a right to know everything.”
“If that’s the case,” Daniels said, “then why do we classify information? Why do we meet in secret to make national security decisions? Because it’s up to us, as the people’s representatives, to make smart decisions. They elect and trust us to get it right. And every few years they have chance to tell us how we’re doing. Senator, we’re asking you to stop this, both your president and your prophet are asking you to stop.”
His first thought was about what was happening in Iowa. Did the Lincoln watch hold the final piece of the puzzle? He also wondered about Stephanie Nelle and her complicity. She’d offered him vital information. But what had Snow just said about his own offered cooperation?
Enough rope to hang yourself.
“You sent Stephanie Nelle to me, didn’t you?” he asked Daniels.
“I sent no one. She’s a thief and a traitor. I’m going to fire her, then put her sorry ass in jail. That’s where you’re going, too, if you don’t stop.”
He faced Snow. “We have a right to live free, as we please, according to the prophets. We’ve earned that. Our founders envisioned that.”
“We are free, Thaddeus.”
“How can you say that? It’s our duty to fulfill the White Horse Prophecy.”
“That’s a fantasy. It always has been.”
“No, it’s not. We were told to stand by the Constitution of the United States as it was given by the inspiration of God. That means in its entirety. And that’s what I’m doing. The founders themselves said a state could leave, if it wanted to. I’m prepared to see if Utah wants that.”
Then something occurred to him.
“You lied to Nixon about the prophecy, didn’t you?”
Snow stared back.
“That’s exactly what you did,” he said again. “You told him it was fantasy.”
“We simply reiterated what the church has publicly said of that pronouncement,” Snow made clear.
“Which was a lie. You just said every prophet since Brigham Young was aware of the truth. What we held for the United States.”
“Which has nothing to do with that prophecy,” Snow said. “It has everything to do, though, with the future of this nation. We simply chose not to destroy this country. The Constitution would, indeed, hang by a thread if you’re allowed to proceed.”
“Where is it, Charles?” His body shook with intensity. “Where is that document hidden? Tell me.”
Snow shook his head. “That will not be passed from this prophet to the next. And I assure you, I’m the only one who knows.”
“Then you have betrayed your faith, and all that it stands for.”
“I’m prepared to answer to Heavenly Father. Are you?”
“Absolutely. I know Lincoln fought a war that never should have been fought. The South had a right to leave, and he knew that. He made a personal choice to wage that war. Hundreds of thousands died. What do you think the American people will say when that’s revealed?”
“That he chose the union ,” Daniels said. “He chose this country. I would have done the same.”
“Then you’re a traitor, too.”
“Lincoln decided that the United States was more important than the individual states,” Daniels said. “Granted, times have changed. The same pressures he faced we don’t. But we have pressures that are just as immediate. Worldwide concerns. It’s important that this nation survive.”