Dear Fellow Americans and Post-Americans,

Breaking up is hard to do, but is the United States of America on the verge of it? Could the economic crisis and the tension between the left and the right, or "seculars" and conservative Christians, rip us asunder? If you know my writing, then you know I'm deeply disturbed by American ignorance and fundamentalism (half of U.S. adults believe the Earth was created within the last 10,000 years) and what that bodes for our future. And I'm of the opinion that it is difficult indeed to govern a country that is so big, diverse and politically polarized. Does the West Coast really belong in the same nation with the Deep South? Does it make sense? Would it be so bad for different regions to go their separate ways?

Predictions about the near future can be made by novelists, political scientists, pundits, mediums, or....UFO abductees!

An email was recently sent to me that spoke of Swiss UFO abductee Billy Meier having predicted back in the 1980s that the U.S. would suffer two terrible civil wars, and then break into five different territories, with sectarian fanatics taking a "dictatorial role."

Interestingly, I have a similar scenario in my 2007 science-fiction novel "The Big God Network." Here is a description:

"Twenty years from now, the United States has fragmented into liberal Pacifica (the West Coast), theocratic New America (the heartland), and other new nations. Against this contentious political backdrop, Baba Ed, the leader of a wealthy UFO cult, seeks contact with extraterrestrial civilizations via the Channel, a breakthrough communications interface with a high “AIQ” that renders the most secure system vulnerable, and threatens the new balance of power. A dystopic New America ruled by evangelicals hopes to bring Pacifica back into the fold, and the Channel may offer the means to subdue the “secular” region. Or to protect it, if the book’s hero Franz Sampaio is successful in his quest."

In the novel, the post-American landscape has formed after the Abortion Wars and the New Crusades. "New America" is Orwellian and dictatorial, rather like what might happen if Bush and Cheney got to stay in office as long as Hugo Chavez may, with no pesky liberals or moderate Republicans trying to clip their wings.

Meanwhile, Pacifica is democratic, liberal and rather idyllic (there are also several other new post-American nations). All in all, it's a good change, at least for the people in Pacifica and most outside of New America.

As the stars will have it,
Author J.C. McGowan
"The Big God Network"