# Give Me an Example of Conservative Political Fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397 "2013-01-07T21:21:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/61 "2013-01-08T19:24:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It’s not just that they could pull it off – it’s that you have that extreme a group that’s that large, organized, and technically capable – all prerequisites for being able to “pull it off”, but an unlikely combo for extremist nuts of any stripe. “Want to kill off 99% of humanity so we can start over in a “reasonable” world (as defined by us)” isn’t a platform that will attract a majority of people, and especially technically competant people. Especially when they have strong Luddite tendencies. The sort of people who are really good at science tend not to be the sort who want to destroy science and technology and live in the woods. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/62 "2013-01-08T21:35:37Z")
> [@PatriotGrrrl](#): > > [Lipidleggin’](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipidleggin%27) That was an episode of _American Dad_, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Evin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@Evin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evin)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/63 "2013-01-08T22:04:14Z")
_The Spike_ is a 1980 spy thriller by Arnaud de Borchgrave and Robert Moss (New York: Crown Publishers, 1980). Drawing on de Borchgrave’s experience as a jet-setting Newsweek journalist and conservative Washington insider, it tells the story of a radical ‘60s journalist, Bob Hockney, who stumbles upon a Soviet plot for global supremacy by 1985. When he tries to expose the web of blackmail, sex and espionage, he’s hamstrung by his editors’ liberal media bias. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/64 "2013-01-08T22:28:20Z")
Terry Goodkind, for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/65 "2013-01-08T22:49:50Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > . . . there must be lots of thinly-veiled warning stories about communism and such. I’m remembering a couple from the very early sixties. One was \*\*Facial Justice \*\*by L. P. Hartley. People were required to be equalized to keep others from feeling discontent. The main form this seemed to take was that women who were too good looking were required to have surgery to make them plainer. I guess that was the most horrifying form of equalization that Hartley could think of. Another, that I can’t remember the name of, was set in a world where drug use had become the norm for half of society. That half were said to live their lives vicariously, and were therefore called Vikes. They took drugs and watched porn and dressed like futuristic sluts (both sexes). But they also held down typical office jobs, with no health or attention problems caused by the drug use, and they had a taboo against people touching people because that wasn’t vicarious. The conservative half of society dressed demurely and didn’t take drugs but talked about sex all the time because that was real. In the end, I think someone had an epiphany and started promoting a middle ground that was coincidentally like a normal early sixties lifestyle. Yes, it did sound bizzare the whole way through. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/66 "2013-01-09T04:42:31Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Lois McMaster Bujold. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > John Birmingham, John Scalzi, and Joe Haldeman are at least partial exceptions. I’ve never read John Birmingham. I don’t consider Bujold and Scalzi to be primarily military SF authors, even though they’ve written stories in military settings. They don’t usually come up when I’m getting recommendations for military SF. You’re completely right about Haldeman. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/67 "2013-01-09T14:02:10Z")
Frederick Forsyth, who seems pretty conservative, enjoys writing novels where Margaret Thatcher is great and commies are the bad guys, sure as Israel can do no wrong and private citizens with firearms can (a) overthrow a tyrannical regime easy as (b) play for-profit vigilante to drop evildoers the law won’t touch. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/68 "2013-01-09T14:03:08Z")
The Bible? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/69 "2013-01-09T14:25:18Z")
The Remo Williams books. Actively castigated Carter but apologized for Reagan’s failings. Also quite racist and sexist. But then it’s all dime novel stuff, so a general lack of quality can be ignored. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/70 "2013-01-09T14:31:34Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Taylor Caldwell’s works- specifically- > > CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS- An Irish immigrant rises to build a Kennedy-esque dynasty, only to defy the Conspiracy that sponsored his rise to power. > > A PILLAR OF IRON- A defender of the Republic defies the forces of Collectivism & Imperialism that threaten it (respectively- Cicero, the Gracchi, Julius Caesar & Marc Antony). > > THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATES- A weird novel about a secret society of Constitutionalists who infiltrate the People’s Republic of America & enforce its Leftist agenda so ruthlessly as to provoke the people to rise against the PRA. The ‘heroes’ gladly give their lives when they are convicted of crimes against the people by the newly restored Republic. I was going to suggest Caldwell as well. Aside from The Devil’s Advocates - most of her novels are at least also very good stories :). When I was a kid (from an ultra-conservative upbringing) I thought she was fantastic. Now, not so much although one of her early novels (one of the least politic), Melissa, is still one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/71 "2013-01-09T15:32:52Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Especially when they have strong Luddite tendencies. The sort of people who are really good at science tend not to be the sort who want to destroy science and technology and live in the woods. S.M. Stirling wrote a series of [three novels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T2:_Infiltrator) set in the _Terminator_ universe that pick up where _Terminator 2_ left off, and the villains of the story are actually **named** Luddites – that is, they’re a group of ultra-radical environmentalists who collaborate with Skynet because they, also, want humanity exterminated, and “Luddites” is what they call their organization. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/72 "2013-01-10T07:10:15Z")
But, but, that’s not what Luddite means! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/73 "2013-01-10T07:50:57Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > Joss Whedon’s _Serenity_. Seriously? That seems like a major stretch to call that conservative. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/74 "2013-01-10T10:57:44Z")
> [@For You](#): > > Seriously? That seems like a major stretch to call that conservative. Not “conservative” but “libertarian”, which is a slightly different kettle of fish. ---
**Author:** ![JLRogers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@JLRogers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JLRogers)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/75 "2013-01-10T11:54:48Z")
Has anyone mentioned **Stephenie Meyer** > [@Gyrate](#): > > Not “conservative” but “libertarian”, which is a slightly different kettle of fish. Not all that different, in my experience. Most self-styled “libertarians” I’ve met tend to be conservatives who want to legalize marijuana. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/76 "2013-01-10T15:23:05Z")
C. S. Lewis - The Chronicles of Narnia takes various swipes at Progressivism, especially in education. But most of all- his SPACE TRILOGY- mainly That Hideous Strength in which a small group of Christian academics oppose the Occultist Corporate Socialist secret society that has infiltrated their college- with the help of Merlin & Planetary Archangels. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/77 "2013-01-10T17:26:23Z")
> [@For You](#): > > Seriously? That seems like a major stretch to call that conservative. The entire series is basically a recasting of “Lost Cause” Civil War romanticism, with the erstwhile Confederates scrubbed of any nasty traits like being pro-slavery so the audience can support the scrappy rebels with a clear conscience. The movie, in particular, is about a band of rugged individualists uncovering a plot by a distant and disinterested central government to strip it’s citizens of their free will and ability to resist the state. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/78 "2013-01-10T19:37:57Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The entire series is basically a recasting of “Lost Cause” Civil War romanticism, with the erstwhile Confederates scrubbed of any nasty traits like being pro-slavery so the audience can support the scrappy rebels with a clear conscience. The movie, in particular, is about a band of rugged individualists uncovering a plot by a distant and disinterested central government to strip it’s citizens of their free will and ability to resist the state. Sorry, I fail to see how that qualifies as “conservative”. By that standard, you might classify Edward Abbey’s _The Monkeywrench Gang_ as “conservative”. Fighting tyranny and oppression is not a “conservative” value in and of itself, unless you want to call the entire 60s anti-war counterculture as “conservative”. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/79 "2013-01-10T19:44:18Z")
Does Fox News count? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397/80 "2013-01-11T07:25:24Z")
Red Dawn I’ve heard Babylon 5 described as a conservative Star Trek. (by one of the actors, the security guy) I’ve only seen the movie but I found The Hunger Games to be “conservative”, in that the villains were cartoons of “liberals.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-an-example-of-conservative-political-fiction/646397.md?page=5)