Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Designing a fictional Government?

One of the things I have been working on with the new book is how to describe the differences between the two major groups in the world of Shade. The Ons live in the cities under constant surveillance. Their lives are dictated by a powerful central Government. Sanctioned drugs are given to the people in order to keep them docile and under control. Every move they make is monitored, and they receive only the information that the State wants them to know. Could this happen in America? Is it? Many think that it not only could but is happening slowly as I write this piece. Drones flying over our cities, invasive searches before flying, Bills being passed by people who haven't even read them. It isn't something that would happen overnight, it would take a couple of generations at least to make it happen. Nikita Khrushchev once bang his shoe on the desk in the UN General Assembly and announced that the United States would fall without the Soviets firing a single shot. While the Soviet Union fell apart first it doesn't mean that we are safe from following their lead. If this all controlling Government was to come about could it really control the whole country?

With our history of independence I don't think that they would be able to do more than control the major population centers. We as a people in general have been bred with a streak of hard headed reliance on ourselves and our God. While the cities might have the manufacturing and tech industries, they will need food, water, raw materials like lumber, oil, and various minerals, all of which come from the rural areas. Our DNA has a large dose of rebellion in it. Don't think so? Just ask an Apple user about Microsoft, throw Linux fan into the mix and watch the fireworks. We have people who hack computer systems just to show that they can. It is those people who live separate from the main populations in the Shade books and stories. They have their own government which is based on the ideas put forth by our Founding Fathers. Each group has its own rules that run the daily lives of its members, there is a loose coalition with other communities and even a central council made up of members from each of the smaller groups. The power to affect the daily lives of their population remains at the local level. This group is known as the Subs. They are not totally off the grid but they do operate just under the surface of the grid. It is their defense and a weapon against the Ons.

If the first part of this post were to come true, hopefully there will be a group like the Subs as well.

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