Under The Dome

     I have been a lifelong Stephen King fan.  As it happened, I was a kid and a teen when he went through his cocaine-fueled nuttiness.  I was the right age for haunted cars and impossible events.  But as I grew up, so did King.  His stories became more sophisticated, and his storytelling ability fine-tuned itself into one of the best to ever type Chapter One.
     I've fallen behind on my reading, and some slipped off my radar entirely.  I have been on a crime kick, and there are a thousand reasons why I haven't read Under The Dome.  Until my husband saw it, realized I had not read it, and checked it out from the library.  Well, library books must be read in a timely manner, not allowed to catch dust and wait for my convenience.  I dug right in to the 1,000 page monster, and felt right at home in a world he created that I know so well.  By the way, thanks to my husband for making me read again, I hadn't realized how much I missed it.
     Then I started to see patterns.  I shook my head.  No way did Stephen King just make a political metaphor.  Except he did.  And he kept doing it.  And over 600 pages in, he's still doing it and so well that it is another story inside of the one he's telling.  I will announce a sort of spoiler alert, though I am still reading and can't ruin too much.
     For reasons nobody knows yet, a dome covers a rural town in Maine.  If there is one thing King knows, it's rural folk.  The man in charge, something like a Yankee flavored Boss Hogg, is the perfect Republican prick.  He knows what is better for the town, and he is not afraid to take steps to force people's hands so that he gets his way.  If a few people get squashed... well, it's the price to pay for what is right for the town.  Of course, in a world created by King, people fall like flies.  But this time there's no monster.  There's a Boss Hogg with an agenda, a man who won't use a swear word but is pumping out crystal meth by the truckload.  He and the good men of the town have been up to some shenanigans, but as long as they keep control, what does it matter?  A few men broke a town's back to fund their dreams, and they feel completely justified.
     The military is useless to help our heroes.  They are outside, taking care of business out there.  However, military skills and survival knowledge help our main character stay on top.  People are afraid, and instead of helping the power hogs start slamming down control while trying to sell it as security.  Their own citizens are being beaten to death by law enforcement and nobody can see the obvious.  The town went from a handful of cops to a house full, and they are just now wondering why.  King also rips off the face of the racist hate that blinds the simple minded, and while I have never heard him to be racist in real life he portrays it in characters with utter detail and authenticity.  You can tell he flinched but didn't hold back, because the man saying it wouldn't have.
     Do I think King wrote a thousand page novel that was pure political commentary?  No.  But it made me realize he surely had something to say.  It is striking me so profoundly because I realize I am scared of my government.  There, I said it.  I am goddamned scared that the government that rules instead of serves will take away my medical, legal and ethically obligated rights as a citizen.  I am afraid that we could wake up in a police state where language, behavior and speech are controlled.  I'm reading about it happening on a small scale, but it's like connecting CS Lewis with biblical references, once you see them it all snaps into place and is so clear.
     The scary thing is, the stuff that is bothering me has already come to pass.  He hasn't touched on what happens when those in charge start making life decisions for the people they control.  He hasn't said how they free themselves after losing control over their freedom.  I have yet to see how the little man brings balance back.

This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends.
This is the way the world ends.
Not with a bang, but with a lying sack of shit who smiles and lies with great ability.

Or as it's known in our world, the RNC attendance sheet.

I'll save the rest of my rant for when I finish, because between starting this post and getting here, I have met the Homeland Safety guys.  This will be an awesome journey, I just wish it was more fiction so I could pretend this stuff isn't happening all around me.