"Patriots," The Second Installment

In Chapter 3, Walter starts work in a Senate office—and meets his first D.C. powerbroker—and gets his first introduction to Washington partisanship. In Chapter 4, Walter's girlfriend Valerie gets a job too, as a party planner. The country's ruling class gives a lot of parties, after all, and even in a nasty recession, personal services to that class remain a growth opportunity.

Chapter 1, in which we meet Walter and Valerie, can be read here.

Chapter 2, in which Valerie and Walter move to Washington, is here.

And here again is my op-ed about why I'm doing all this.