I think that on worldlines where it's even marginally probable that a significant fraction of the population has read either of these books, political cultures such as our own are vastly unlikely to exist in the first place. But no doubt they have their own problems, too.

I'll be reading Illuminatus! since you've related it to Pendulum. I came to Pendulum after seeing it related to Labyrinths (https://www.amazon.com/Labyrinths-Directions-Paperbook-Jorge...) if by any chance you haven't read that you should check it out.