Out of Crisis by Richard Caldwell

If it ain’t one thing, it’s another.

First crisis: Russia, China, US, and NKorea are at odds . .  . again. A decidedly apolitical problem solver, the current Secretary of State, brokers a solution that not only cools the crisis, but also effectively eliminates NKorea as a rogue state.

Second crisis: The political chasms as they are will never unite the country. Red vs. Blue is a no-win situation. Behind the scenes money and power brokers realize the only way out is a 3^rd party. And not one that is further right or left of what’s there now. A 3^rd party must be middle of the road: fiscally conservative and socially liberal, which describes 80% of the country. Win the 80% and screw the two fringes. Envision 2100, the brokers, have not only a plan, but a platform. What they need is a candidate

Third crisis: A hugely popular president tells his closest allies in DC that his health will probably keep him from seeking a second term. And the current VP is a toad, entirely unsuited for the office. Solution: A new candidate from a new party: David Stakely, current Secretary of State for the Centrist Party.

Fourth crisis: A group of highly effective kidnappers has been snatching well-heeled Americans for ransom. Based in the Yucatan. Everyone thinks its roots are in the cartel.

Fifth crisis: This pastor from Houston has heard the Word of God. He’s been told by God that the planet needs a cleansing and that the Pastor is to start this cleansing by stocking his pulpit with weapons and to open up on the congregation during his sermon.

Sixth crisis: and it’s a big one. You’ve heard that Yellowstone National Park sits atop a mega volcano that has been dormant for untold thousands of years, right? Well, guess what. Nap time is over. The greatest natural disaster in recorded history.

That’s a lot for one book. Remember that excellent movie Dunkirk? Where Christopher Nolan expertly knitted four stories, each with different timelines, into a cohesive story where the four separate stories came together in a hugely satisfying finish.

This is sort of like Dunkirk. Probably 80-90% of the book follows two stories. The Yellowstone volcano eruption (#6 above) and the birth of a 3^rd party (#2 and 3 above) are told in alternating chapters (mostly) but set 2-3 years apart. The other issues come to play periodically at varying points within the 2–3-year bracketing of stories.

The Yellowstone eruption is a breathtaking description of hell on earth and is told at a breakneck pace. The development of the Centrist Party and the recruitment of Secretary Stakely is, however, mostly meeting after meeting that is, for all intents and purposes, a primer on how to develop a third party. Not to mention a party platform that reforms everything from fiscal restraint, immigration, term limits, guns, paths to citizenship, repeal/revision of a few amendments, a new Constitutional Convention called by the states, and much more. While interesting, I thought it slowed everything else down and read more like a public policy professor's lecture notes.

And all those meetings go on for a few years. Stakely and the Envision 2100 brass realize that some unfathomable events need to happen at just the right time for all these new initiatives to be welcomed by the 80%. A high-profile kidnapping is thwarted, the Pastor opens fire. And the eruption. Shit happens.

So, yeah, the populace is ready for a massive shift in US policies. 

ECD