When I started posting Utopian Refugee, I posted a blog entry that said people would love it or hate it. That expectation was fully met. Some people wrote that it was an insightful journey into the no compromise politics of the modern world. Others wrote that it was a diatribe against everything that was good in the world. Some said that it made them so sick that they had to stop reading after a few chapters because the politics in it were so distasteful.
Clearly I was right-wing. After all, I mocked the liberal agenda without mercy. Others were just as convinced that I was left-wing. After all, I was exaggerating right-wing fears to show just how idiotic they were. I expected that reaction as well.
Don't mistake the politics of the characters for the politics of the author. The fact is, I think both positions are wrong. What happened to the middle? What happened to reasoned discourse? What happened to compromise? What happened to common sense? It appears all of that is gone and that makes me a political dinosaur.
The other day I was in a meeting in which a policy document was being discussed. A real topic of conversation arose in which it was debated if a statement to the effect that people should think before doing something should be added to the document as official policy. I was stunned that such a suggestion should even need to be made.
Entering into high sarcasm mode, I argued that it should be official policy that there should be no thinking before acting. That way, no one could be blamed for bad ideas since no one would have thought long enough to have one. I'll admit, I was being a jerk. I made a few enemies in that meeting.
I write a variety of stories. High adventures in the Damsels in Distress stories. Comedies in Quatyl, Magic, Solutions Incorporated, and The Donaldsons. Lighthearted romps in A King and his Queen, Mothers and Daughters, and the Future of Miss Powers. I write about the human condition in Thunder and Lightening, A Different Sort of Life Style, Millionaire Next Door, Commune, and Fighting for Family. Sometimes I write about people needing people, such as in Hard Times, Loose Cannons, and Samuel. Stories about people trying to live to a impossibly high standard such as in the John Carter Universe.
Then there are the more political stories. Commentaries about war in Hunter and Jade Force. Commentaries about the problems in society such as in Service Society, Country Boys, Utopian Refugee, The Reset Manifesto, and Pfand X.
In all of the stories, there is one common element. People are people. They're flawed. People have ideals that are often impossible to live by. People need people to help them become better people. They need to help people to become a better person. The lone animal on the edge of the herd is the one who is going to get eaten by the wolves. And people are afraid of the monster under the bed, the bump in the night, and the stranger at the door.