Full Speed Ahead!

Nearly three years ago, I reviewed an excellent book by Orson Scott Card titled Empire. The novel centered around a couple of military officers - Captain Bartholomew “Cole” Coleman and Major Reuben “Rube” Malich - who find themselves caught in the middle of a political upheaval following the assassination of the president and vice-president a few months prior to the 2008 presidential election. The group behind the assassination turns out to be a left-wing rebel movement known as the Progressive Restoration, which quickly seizes New York City and proclaims that it is the rightful government of the entire nation, acting to restore what they claim were the rightful, legitimate Democratic governments elected in 2000 and 2004. After a brief but intense Second Civil War, during which Major Malich meets an unfortunate demise, the movement is crushed. In the aftermath, the National Security Advisor - a wily former Ivy League professor named Averell Torrent, secures the Republican and Democratic nominations for president and is elected in a landslide, claiming a mandate to bring the divided nation together.

Hidden Empire, the second book in the series, picks up the story three years later, in 2011. Bartholomew "Cole" Coleman is now a colonel, and President Torrent is facing a global crisis as an extremely contagious Ebola-like disease (known as the nictovirus) is spreading from Nigeria across western Africa. Fearing that the epidemic might go global, Torrent orders a full blockade and quarantine of sub-Saharan Africa and orders Colonel Coleman and his special forces unit to Nigeria to protect American interests in the region. But matters get more complicated when Christian relief groups in the United States, with which Rube Malich's widow Cessy and her son are involved, demand that Torrent allow them to go to Nigeria to minister to the sick.

Cole and his special forces unit thus find themselves trying to contain the spreading nictovirus, protect Cessy and thousands of other aid workers, and defend themselves against mysterious assassins who seem to know Cole's unit's every move.

Card's story is one of mystery, intrigue, and as with Empire, considerable allegory and social commentary. I was particularly struck by Card's characterization of how derisively the Christian aid workers are treated by the media in his novel. Though Hidden Empire was released in December 2009, just weeks before the earthquake in Haiti, it's as if Card foresaw the hateful commentary many leftists have recently been directing toward Christian aid workers in that country. For example, consider the case of Laura Silsby, an American charged with "child abduction" by the criminal enterprise known as the Haitian government for trying to rescue thirty-three children from that miserable hellhole. Some comments to this blog post by Nancy Rommelmann are representative of typical anti-Christian bias and hatred from the left:

"She needs some serious Hatian [sic] jail time and her passport revoked for life. I think she is delusional, which combined with arrogance and grandiosity can lead to Jim Jones syndrome."

and

"Magical thinking is magical thinking, no matter to whom or what you pray."

and

"...let's remember that the U.S. has played a big part in making Haiti such a great place for children(and adults for that matter).

Silsby can rot in jail for all I care. There are legitimate non god-blind people trying to help over there."

Naturally, leftists and atheists know all about compassion and help, given their historical predilection for throwing people into gulags and concentration camps. And as for the point about the United States playing a part in creating Haiti's misery, that is ahistorical, blame-America-first nonsense.

But I digress. If you want to see someone really set fire to wick in assessing atheism, read this. Furthermore, to understand how Haiti's never-ending problems date back to the Haitian Revolution itself, read Avengers of the New World by Laurent Dubois. And let there be no further doubt regarding my religious views: I have gotten over my recent flirtation with agnosticism and have returned to the Catholic fold. I was born a Catholic, am once again a Catholic, and will die a Catholic. If that causes some people to get the vapors, that is their problem. As always, I make no apologies for who I am, what I believe, or where I am from.

As for Card's novel, I highly recommend it. As I had hoped three years ago, Card took Admiral Farragut's timeless advice, ignored the leftist ankle-biters, and decided to continue the compelling tale he started with Empire. I eagerly await the next installment.