This reminds me of an article in the Guardian about how YA dystopias were opposing the caretaker state and were basically promulgating neoliberal libertarianism, which seemed to me to be a bit of a headscratcher--seemed to imply that if the government was the Big Bad in a novel, that then the novel opposed the phenomenon of government. Similarly, I just don't think Sales is right in his extrapolations of what current SF say about readers, or what current SF is trying to do. The point isn't to wait for superspecial Katniss, the point is that you identify with Katniss; you're empowered.