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George Orwell's 1984 is widely acknowledged as a frighteningly prescient work, but in a piece written for BushFlash.com, Maureen Farrell reminds us that Orwell didn't have the market cornered on eerily sibylline fiction.
Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here, published in 1935, concerns, as Farrell writes, "a charismatic Senator who claims to champion the common man, Windrip is in the pocket of big business (i.e. Corpos), is favored by religious extremists, and though he talks of freedom and prosperity for all, he eventually becomes the ultimate crony capitalist. Boosted by Hearst newspapers (the FOX News of its day), he neuters both Congress and the Supreme Court, before stripping people of their liberties and installing a fascist dictatorship."
I've never been one to ascribe to conspiracy theories or worst-case scenarios, but the bunch of thugs currently running the show in Washington has me fearing the worst. I've placed a hold on It Can't Happen Here at the library, but I'm afraid it might well give me nightmares.
Read Farrell's piece and track down the novel -- if you dare.
Posted by brett at 05:28 PM | TrackBack