What do a theater manager, his accountant, a mining executive, a couple of high-level bureaucrats, several disgruntled miners, and a control-freak security guard have in common?
Dale E. Lehman takes us to the Oort cloud, where asteroids are mined for resources not easily found in the other eight planets. An impressive mining civilization sets the scene for Space Operatic.
What do these characters have in common? Answer: They are all deeply flawed characters, looking for personal advantage and more influence. They play and thwart each other with the best of political intrigue. Story arcs abound; it’s fun to keep track of all their orchestrations. Lehman must have had a lot of fun hooking all those arcs together!
And there’s a mysterious theater house, supposedly the most opulent theater in the entire solar system. But nobody is allowed to use it.
And an insurrection that was not really an insurrection was quashed.
This book moves fast. But it is well written. A good place to pass a few hours, especially if one likes political intrigue.
A consistent digression of Space Operatic is our many English idioms. These idioms have their roots a century or more before today. While we — of the 21st century — are losing the cultural reference that brought these idioms to life, they are still being used in the Oort Cloud, a century or two from now. Literal meanings make little sense, which means confusion for the cultural meanings. Yet Oort Cloudians still use them. What do horses and steam locomotives and circuses really mean in that future time and place? Why do we humans stick with traditions that no longer serve any useful purpose?
Space Operatic & Tiered Democratic Governance
My very few loyal fans are probably wondering how I’m going to dovetail this exciting space comedy (or tragedy) into my alternative democracy. Yep, I found a way to turn Lehman’s work into an advantage!
All the characters in Space Operatic are deeply flawed. Maybe the “despicable” is a better word. While I enjoyed watching their Machiavellian ways and upsetting each other’s apple carts (another idiom that is losing its original meaning), I really didn’t see a hero in any of them. Greedy, selfish, inconsiderate, manipulative, scheming, power-hungry, people.
I wonder how a collection of these despicable leaders could have built a mining civilization in the first place, let alone manage it well enough to continue trading with the rest of the solar system. Today, it seems we have a few countries going backward because they are ruled by similar people. No Oort Cloud colonies are possible until we learn how to keep despicable people out of government.
I am always amazed at how science fiction writers can invent new worlds, societies, and technologies. And yet they cannot imagine a new system of governance for the future, always resorting to systems that were developed in the 20th century.
Why?
May I suggest that all successful novels require an element of conflict to keep the reader engaged — and books selling. Politics — as we know it today — provides lots of conflict. And dysfunctional politics with despicable people in charge of big decisions brings even more conflict to readers, writers, and publishers. Conflict is a prerequisite to today’s good stories.
I have written three political novels. These novels are about average people — frustrated by current politics — building their own local TDG (Tiered Democratic Governance). They want this less conflictive system to replace a dysfunctional American democracy.
In Diary of a Future Politician, Len Pash is a laid-off factory worker in Riverbend, a town in rural USA. Middle-aged with few job skills, Len has few employment prospects. Somehow, he becomes a reluctant TDG builder. At first, he attends the TDG meetings to occupy his time and fill social needs. But as the TDG grows, it also grows inside of Len. He starts to appreciate this new way. He looks forward to his involvement in its future.
In Confessions of a Future Politician, the story moves forward with Thelma Delgers, who is the new leader of Riverbend’s TDG. Thelma really should not have this position because she is young, female, and African American. In this novel, she works with other TDGers to take the Riverbend TDG to the next level. But Thelma has a past that haunts her.
In Circles of a Future Politician, Eli Weasel and five friends on the Tankosin Indian Reservation are suddenly activated into their TDG work with a political catalyst from Thelma. Their TDG evolution is abruptly set in motion; Eli and friends are learning the TDG ways in a short time. The Tankosin TDG becomes the most influential TDG in the USA.
These three novels would disappoint your instructor in your creative writing class. Compared to the characters in Space Operatic, the characters in these TDG stories have minor flaws that don’t even deserve mentioning. And because the characters get along with each other, there isn’t enough conflict to create a good story. These three novels should not go anywhere in our current literary culture.
But these novels tell a story of average Americans building a new democracy. A consensual democracy. A kinder, wiser democracy. No one else is telling a story like this. Governance with less conflict.
Would these Americans not be heroes in your eyes?
Could you be one of these characters?
Published on Medium 2022
Governance Lessons from a Canadian Village
