I’m not really a fan of politics. The hate, fear, anger, lust, etc just bother me. I am sort of a fan of fictional politics though. The “what might have been”s, the “what could be”s. I once read a novel called The Fall Of The Russian Empire, written in 1982, about how the government of Soviet Russia could dramatically change. The author was pretty close philosophically, though the particulars were quite different obviously.
I also enjoy books about how things would be if different countries won certain wars. Where would we be if the British had won our Revolutionary War? Or if the Germans had won at least part of WW2?
So my friends Ed and jtr are pretty much at opposite ends of the political spectrum, and this week have been bantering a bit. If you follow that link, you’ll note at the bottom I wrote “Go Nader!”. I wrote it not so much out of love for Nader, but I guess partly to put some levity in there, partly to show that there are some people that don’t care what either the dems or the reps think about.
Which brings me to my point; I think it would be cool to have a novel about what would happen if the US elected a non-primary party candidate, and have it sort of take everyone by surprise. I don’t necessarily mean Nader in particular, but what would the parties do if suddenly neither one had a president in power, and no-one really saw it coming? Except of course for that lowly political science grad student who tries to explain it, but no-one will listen.
I think that would make a cool novel.
You should read Newt Gingrich’s novel “1945”. The basic premise is that World War II was averted and Hitler continued growing in military power, eventually turning his sights on the United States. It is a very good what-if book.