Will I Still Get July 4th Off?

I have always thought it would be fun to write a novel about a modern-day US civil war. Instead of a North/South split over the issue of slavery (or states rights, or whatever you believe to be the defining issue of that war), my novel would focus on a Red State/Blue State split along another polarizing moral issue…something like abortion for example. Adding to the intrigue of the story would be the main protagonist’s effort to wrestle control of the nuclear arsenal from renegade military commanders as the clock ticked toward the Red/Blue showdown. Yes, I know, lots of details to iron out, which explains why it remains unwritten (or at least I think it does).

A Russian professor envisions something fairly similar, but his work is entirely non-fiction. Professor Igor (or is it I-gor?) Panarin predicts the US will fall apart by the end of 2010. Panarin has maintained for several years now that economic and moral collapse will trigger civil unrest that will culminate in the breakup of the United States into six geographic regions – several western states headed by California will fall under Chinese influence; the states of the Texas Republic will be under Mexican control (naturally); the mid-Atlantic states will join the European Union; Canada will gobble up Northern border states; Hawaii will become a Japanese protectorate and Alaska will be dominated by the Russians.

While a fascinating theory, I’m not converting my dollars into euros just yet (I happen to live smack dab in the middle of Atlantic America). But I’m sure some Hollywood hack is busy at this very moment putting Panarin’s ideas to script for a Summer 2010 release starring Will Smith.