Tha card by Arnold Bennet https://librivox.org/the-card-by-arnold-bennett/
The count of Monte cristo by Alexander Dumas: https://librivox.org/the-count-of-monte-cristo-by-alexandre-dumas/
I don’t think they are just for show. There are differences in which policies each party try to pass. The GOP is clearly fascist. The democratic party are clearly not fascist.
The down the rabbit hole youtube channel is really great for mildly obscure interesting topics.