JCC Novels that are clearly political strawmen (cheating if you use Orson Scott Card)

Today we'll start with a book I saw while browsing the scifi section of Barnes & Noble: The Little Green Book of Chairman Rahma (not to be confused with The Big Math Book of Chairman Ramza). This little Rush Limbaugh inspired nightmare is brought to you by one of scifi's greatest writer's....son: Brian Herbert. Here's a picture of the novel:



Here's a synopsis from Amazon: A revolution has taken over the government of the United States and the environment has been saved. All pollution has been banned and reversed. It's a bright, green new world. But this new world comes with a great cost. The United States is ruled by a dictatorship and the corporations are fighting back. Joining them are an increasing number of rebels angered by the dictatorship of Chairman Rahma.

The cover flap detailed a bit more, talking about how everyone has a little green book that they must carry with them and quote verses.

Do you think environmentalists want to oppress everyone? Are CEOs and Militia types the heroes of your stories? Do you listen to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck? Then this might be the book for you!

 

Ayn Rand says hi?

 

Double cheating!

 

Pretty much anything by Tom "The Waffen SS were awesome" Kratman.

 

The Bible.

 

I vaguely recall Jurassic Park (the novel) feeling very conservative. Or maybe it was the Lost World?

"Step aside, trust in nature, life will find a way."

 

Starship Troopers

 

I view Tom Clancy somewhat differently -- he was an unabashed Conservative, but not a Neocon. He, imo, legitimately tried to believe the best in everyone, in every civilization, and only the extremists (Islamic, Russian, Chinese, Native American, etc.) were the bad guys against civilization. It certainly had a jingoistic feel to it, but not a "let's bomb everyone" mindset.

And his idea of a heroic guy was a highly-intelligent INTELLIGENCE ANALYST who kept getting in over his head, and who became independently wealthy because of his smarts, and married an incredibly successful and talented, strong woman. Basically, it's President Bartlet, Action Hero -- before that was a thing.

Anyone in the Republican Party would be horrified at Jack Ryan these days. And I think Clancy wrote him as a Democrat anyways.

 

Anybody read the Honor Harrington novels? I'm blanking on the author's name ATM...

 

Those are the ones with Wolverine on the cover? Lord of Vivec likes them.

 

Tom Clancy was a Reaganite, dp4m, and I think you can see this even going back to Patriot Games.

And yes, Crichton wrote that State of Emergency novel to deride environmentalism.

I guess Iain M Banks would be included here..?

 

... which is basically what I said?

 

The TC books were were all about how the world's problems could be solved by judicious application of violence, because AMERICA IS THE GOOD GUY.
1. Political leaders assassinated, Japan loves the US again!
2. Iran at war? Assassinate their spiritual leader and all is good again!
3. Chinese at war with Russia? Blow them up and televise it, and DEMOCRACY FOLLOWS!
4. Oversight is for suckers! Pre-sign presidential pardons for an intelligence agency that can kill whoever it wants!
5. The new Democrat president is weak on terrorism and is undoing all my brilliant tax reforms!

There were also references to how rubbish the NHS is because there is no incentive for doctors to perform without the free market, etc.

 

Oh, so it was accurate then?

 

I'll throw my favorite author under the bus here: Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut. Mechanization of the workplace results in massive unemployment (Even though regular workers are required to create the templates for the machines? Huh?), absurd on their face computer records held up as infallible, the righteous cause of the protagonists is quashed by an oppressive regime and proletariat apathy, blah blah blah automation will destroy us all blah blah. I didn't even necessarily disagree with some of the points he wanted to make in the book, but it was so obnoxiously done it all left a sour taste in my mouth.

Oh, and it's ultimately just a rip-off of Brave New World. Thank god he improved in later books.

 

It's best to avoid early and late Vonnegut, IMO.

 

Additionally, middle Vonnegut.

 

The NHS has its bad points, but my experiences have been pretty good. I'm currently on four different types of medication, and I don't pay for any of it.

 

The example was absurd. The doctors left a patient under anaesthesia to go have lunch because they couldn't be fired, or something like that.

 

Really? Sounds ridiculous.

 

Clancy was a realist. His stories often spoke about using diplomacy and last-option limited military force against very specific threats to the national interest.
Clear and Present Danger is a clear strike against neconservative/liberal interventionism. He also was friends with USMC General Anthony Zinni, who was critical of the W Bush administrations foreign policy. Zinni was floated as a VP candidate for Obama at one point.
But yes, he loved the country so his novels were infused with a strong element of nationalism. No one is perfect.

A clear example for the OP would be Brad Thor. I tried to read one of his novels years ago and barely survived.

 

That also does not sound like something the US health system would be immune to, considering obstetricians here have a fun little habit of forcing women into unnecessary c-sections on Friday afternoons so they can take the weekend off.

 

Some of these authors sound like the literary equivalent of Christian "rock".

Let's sound as crappy as we can and record canned and cliched rock hooks while singing about how Jesus rocks.

 

Vince Flynn was an even more blatant 'the only way to protect the national interest is to torture, assassinate and/or summarily execute suspected terrorists, and if you want civilian/political oversight of CIA or Armed Forces operations you're an idiot' example.