Science Fiction Fans Make Better World Leaders

Or, Emergency Preparedness Begins at Home.

I just finished reading the novel-length version of Nightfall by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg. I strongly recommend every presidential candidate read it. In our post-9/11 and Katrina America, we are more aware than ever before how lucky we have been to not live in war-torn neighborhoods as many of our world neighbors do.

Like Scarlett, too many of us murmur: "I'll think about that tomorrow" and move on with whatever is immediately before us for the day, leaving it up to the "powers that be" to deal with emergency response.

I think this is a mistake. As President, I would increase the size of the National Guard and give state governors the power to influence training and call directly on divisions within their boundaries. I would offer tax incentives to corporations who sponsor community emergency response preparation. I would loosen the federal-level ties on emergency planning and response resources, channeling funds directly to states in proportion to their populations to utilize as they see best for their localities.

Why? Emergencies have local impact and require swift and immediate local response. Katrina happened when our federal attention was elsewhere in the world, and New Orleans suffered from the delayed response. The recent California wildfires had better attention, but was that because of lessons learned in New Orleans or because of a not-so-subtle racism and class-ism in our country?

Whatever the case, there is no question that the rug can be pulled out from under us at any time, and it behooves us to be much better prepared than we are. Our national dependence on government to fix all our problems has weakened us as a people, depleted our pioneering and bootstrap spirits. Nightfall depicts an overnight slide into anarchy and feudalism due to a perceived threat from a worldwide event - everyday people reduced to mindless survival state with only a handful able to snap themselves out of it and remember rational thought.

Americans believe we are stronger than that. We would never succumb to irrationality in times of emergency. After all, we built this country from scratch, didn't we? Our forefathers with their brilliant combination of strategy and values; our fearless pioneers willing to endure any hardship to settle new lands; our neighborly spirit that allowed home-calling doctors and villages to raise each child - oh yes, we have achieved much and can accomplish anything.

Can't we? I'm not so sure. I read science fiction like Nightfall and War of the Worlds, and I truly wonder if Americans have grown too soft and self-absorbed to band together under desperate emergency conditions. The warnings in the Foundation Trilogy, 1984, Gattica, Minority Report, and Jennifer Government are beginning to seem like feasibility studies for the Machiavellian's who are paying attention to the inattention of our population.

My respected opponents in this important 2008 Presidential Race are certainly paying attention. Your job is to vote for the candidate that is not only least likely to promote and capitalize on your inattention, but one who will challenge and empower you to wake up and take part in this America our forefathers began. We are only a couple hundred years old - barely teenagers. Our work has barely begun. 9/11 and Katrina remind us that the break is over - it's time to get back to work - all of us.

If you want a strong nation that earns rather than commands respect, that is ready for any emergency, that leads through the empowerment of its local communities - vote for Ameriga Columbus as a write-in on your November ballot.