Orson Scott Card is known for taking an actual story and shaping it into a work of fiction. He continues this trend with his latest book (and arguably his most chilling) Empire. It's a possible future for America... one that hits a little too close to home.
It's one thing to read Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale or Oryx and Crake. Sure, they're possible futures for America as well, but they're kind of ridiculous and set far out into the future. They're about what happens when one extremist group takes complete control of society and goes wild. You can read them and still feel safe in your home because you know that the situations presented won't ever happen.
Not so with Empire. It's the scariest book I've read in awhile. Why? Because it's so plausible. Set in a post- "Inconvenient Truth," post-9/11 America Empire tells the tale of an America with no middle ground in politics. In essence, it tells the story of just a few short years from now. It was absolutely terrifying how close to reality this book hit. As we look at the news everything is right-wing vs. left-wing. In reality, very few people are super conservative or super liberal. Sure everyone has their issue or two that they feel really strongly one way or the other about, but in all honesty most people just want the same things. The news stations are always being called out for being slanted one way or another (Fox is for Republicans and CNN is for Democrats), so no one is getting a fair shot with the people they need a fair shot the most with.
What does this all boil down to? What's the message we can take from this novel? More Americans need to get involved with politics. Here in Provo this is a very relevant issue right now as BYU students are demanding a better representation in the city government. The only problem is... most BYU students don't vote in Provo elections... they're registered in their home towns if they're registered at all. I'm not any better though... I'm still not registered to vote despite the fact that I could have registered when I got my new driver's license a month ago.
The number one thing I learned from both the last election and this book is the need to get involved in politics and not just on Nov. 2 every four years. Find out about possible candidates in upcoming elections and vote for your favorite in the primaries. If you don't find a candidate you can really support, nominate someone you will support. Even if you're the only person that votes for that person, you're sending a better message than if you don't vote. If you don't vote people won't ask for your opinion. If you vote for someone other than the names on the ballot then you're sending the message that you care, but you're not seeing the representative you want. Vote in the general election. Demand that your voice be heard among the din of voices. Write to your representatives. This is something that I'm really wanting to become better about. There are a lot of issues that I don't agree with going through Congress right now, so I'm determined to write to my representatives and tell them what kind of behavior I expect from them if I'm going to vote for them in the future.
Long story short. America is headed towards a dangerous future if we don't fight for the things we believe in. You can say all you want about how if we just changed a few laws (such as making election days holidays or always on a Saturday so people aren't working) you'd go vote, but before you can have any say in that, you need to demonstrate that you'll vote in the first place. Let's not let the future Card wrote about happen. I don't want to see our country torn apart by politics like so many other countries have been.
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