Bruce Sterling
While the war is rising in Europe, America is filled with distraction. Politics seem to be all about getting the focus from the really important stuff before the audience has a chance to object. Afterwards it's probably too late.
The plot is set in a future where crime nor violence is the main problem area, in fact science is. Economically, and politically, the united states couldn't be worse. Europe is only a faint glimpse of a very sane, down-to-earth, and somewhat boring people, mostly characterized by the Dutch. Science is so advanced even the poorest people walk around with homemade environment-friendly straw-laptops, in a perfect world this would be some kind of utopia But it isn't a perfect world. Science is lost. All necessary things needed to be invented are, but the scientist keep pushing the invention-button, and America closer to the abyss.
Sterling puts an interesting spin to politics and the personal feud between the campaign manager, Oscar Valparaiso, and the Texas senator, Green Huey. The Texas senator is really a bad fish, but even the President is accused of being a Dutch agent. As in science, in politics things are seldom just plain good or evil. So perhaps science isn't good, nor evil and perhaps science shouldn't have credit for the good nor the blame for the hurt it may cause.