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It is Day 328 of the Great Con II. The current president doubled down on his "shithole countries" slur, attacking Somali immigrants for no other reason than that they are not white. The administration defended its illegal boat strikes that killed the survivors. The president continued to personally target individuals and fired independent agency heads whose job it is to protect and serve citizens (not him). Meanwhile, after giving American cash to foreign governments he likes, he gave farmers $12 billion in bailout funds. Why? Because the masquerade of the tariffs has tanked markets that purchase American farmers' produce.

I recently finished reading The Dawn of Everything, which questioned many of the things we assume about the intelligence of our past. There was no straight march to systems of tyranny or kings. Ancient societies had diverse political thought, even some led by women and others that were completely leaderless. Many purposely chose noncentralized freedom over king-like states. The example of the native savage having no brains for politics simply wasn’t true. The Founding Fathers modeled at least some of the constitution on their knowledge and experiences dealing with Native American tribes. They had first hand experience of dealing with a monarchy, and wanted nothing to do with such a model again.

This year has been nothing short of an embarrassment for our nation, impugning many rights and freedoms we’ve long taken for granted. This got me to thinking about what it would be like 25 years from now if we don’t quickly reverse course. Like Scrooge confronted by the Ghost of Christmas Future, what could we wake up to?

Imagine if you will, being startled awake at 3AM by a spirit from the future. You bang against the headboard in fright and bring your knees close to your chest. Breath escapes sparingly. The spirit stands by the window, then turns toward you. You see no face, but you hear it rattle and speak:

What could you have possibly been thinking? To elect such a man to lead your country? The systematic attacks on democratic institutions, the embrace of autocratic methods, and deliberate sowing of distrust.

That has led you to me.

I will tell you what I see in the year 2050.

This man, this tyrant, normalized what was once unthinkable: military deployment against civilians, wholesale purging of civil servants, weaponization of federal agencies, and systematic dismantling of checks and balances.

Still, you did nothing.

Perhaps no transformation proved more consequential than Christian nationalism's rise from fringe ideology to governing philosophy. Project 2025's manifesto, the death warrant you never read, became operational policy by the late 2020s, remaking America where biblical principles superseded constitutional law. You allowed faith to be treated as fact and turned Jesus into a symbol of oppression.

By 2050, the wall separating church and state were demolished. Even your black and brown friends, Americans through and through, many of them Christian, were not safe.

The economic consequences were catastrophic.

Brain drain intensified as scientists and academics fled theocratic tyranny. Innovation stagnated. Women's workforce participation declined sharply under patriarchal policies, wiping out decades of economic gains.

Most devastating, it poisoned democratic legitimacy itself. Rounding up people by their color, gerrymandering seats to diminish all form of protest, and controlling all media through overt and backdoor deals. By 2050, millions live under laws they never consented to, enforced by religious authorities they don't recognize, serving doctrines they reject. European leaders began calling your country Amerika, with a k.

The movement's leaders stated their intentions openly. They promised a "second American Revolution" that would "remain bloodless if the left allows it." They weren't bluffing. Only California, with a state the size of most nations and the largest military-industrial complex in the West, was able to absorb American refugees and counter the federal force and propaganda.

National Guard deployments to Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago in October 2025 represented an ominous turning point. What began as manufactured emergencies became normalized by the early 2030s. By 2050, military presence in major cities is routine. Drones and unseen eyes control the public. Laws were replaced by executive orders and kangeroo courts.

You saw their pattern: concoct a crisis, send emergency deployment, then use the bureaucratic infrastructure and controlled media to make the emergency permanent. You grew accustomed to uniformed soldiers in urban centers.

Still, you did nothing.

The United States avoided major war with China over Taiwan, but not through wisdom. By the late 2020s, American military power had weakened through internal dysfunction and brain drain of personnel unwilling to serve politicized command. China achieved its objectives without firing a shot. By 2050, Taiwan exists in de facto integration with Beijing. Japan re-militarized without the normal American guarantees. Europe is plagued by eternal war. American global dominance eroded steadily. There are no more alliances for freedom.

You left your kids with nowhere to go, both within and outside their own country.

Social Security's trust fund became insolvent in 2033. Medicare depleted reserves the same year. Millions planned on promised benefits found themselves plunged into poverty. Federal debt exceeded 200% of GDP by 2050. Wealth inequality surpassed Gilded Age levels. The top one percent controls nearly half of all wealth while the bottom fifty percent possesses virtually nothing. The American dream of upward mobility became extinct for most by 2040. There is no middle class.

The partnership between the Trump administration and Silicon Valley oligarchs created techno-authoritarian systems tracking every American. By 2050, corporate and government surveillance merged completely. AI systems deployed for immigration enforcement were repurposed to monitor dissidents, organizers, and journalists in every city.

Privacy exists only for those wealthy enough to purchase it.

Tens of millions abandoned the uninhabitable South and Southwest by the 2040s, fleeing heat, water scarcity, and agricultural collapse. Phoenix shrank dramatically, Miami exists behind seawalls, and Texas agriculture produces a fraction of its historical yields. Northern cities experienced explosive growth, straining infrastructure and igniting resource conflicts.

The education system experienced a slow-motion collapse. By 2050, traditional public education serves barely half the student population. American students rank near the bottom globally in mathematics, science, and literacy. "Truth Decay" eroded shared factual reality. Americans inhabit incompatible information ecosystems, unable to agree on basic facts.

For the Americans in 2050, there is no economic security. Retirement remains perpetually deferred. Generation L, as it came to be called, some say for Last, some say for Lost, inherited a nation that their parents surrendered too easily.

Employment exists only for elite technical workers serving oligarchic firms. Everyone else endures precarious gig positions. Homeownership rates halved. Multi-generational households became an economic necessity. The psychological toll of depression, anxiety, and learned helplessness is unprecedented. “Going to the woods” became a common refrain by the suicidal.

Was there a singular moment sealing America's fate?

You know the truth.

The Supreme Court's capitulation to executive defiance in 2027, the Social Security crisis of 2033, the failed constitutional convention of 2038, the climate migration crisis of the early 2040s?

Each offered potential for catastrophic collapse or restorative renewal.

You chose chaos.

What occurred was neither complete authoritarian consolidation nor democratic revival, but a charade nonetheless.

Elections occur but with predetermined outcomes, courts function but with compromised independence, and some free press exists but under constant threat. America in 2050 remains recognizably American in form but fundamentally changed in substance.

The most painful realization from 2050 is how avoidable this trajectory was.

The warnings were ubiquitous and specific. Historians pointed to the parallels. Political scientists identified the mechanisms with precision. Economists calculated the fiscal catastrophe with certainty. The information and facts existed, but your will did not.

I cannot tell you which future you will create in 2050, only the one I see on your current trajectory. What I offer is testimony on complacency's high cost, where the warning signs proved prophetic.

Choices remain but soon you must act. Act while action remains possible.

Consider this my testimony to you, sent backward through time, bearing witness to what was lost when you failed to defend what was needed most.

Choose wisely, while you still can.

This is a sharp piece from a healthcare professional who backs driverless technology because the data already shows it dramatically cuts serious injuries and deaths. If that sounds like too much change, weigh it against the teenage lives lost to car crashes every year. The author rightly warns about pulling riders off buses and trains and about local efforts to freeze progress just to preserve driving jobs. That is short-sighted. What we actually need is policy that creates new work, cushions the transition, and moves us toward some form of guaranteed income. AI and automation are forcing a rethink of what “normal” work and pay look like, and the only missing ingredient is the will to act.

I’ve written many times about this issue. As a former classroom teacher, I saw the problem firsthand. As a parent, it can be a constant battle. There is a current lack of controls at home and in schools for social media, and teachers and parents need help because of the algorithm-driven tools that corporations use and the amount of peer pressure that youth are up against. While the age of 16 could be considered an arbitrary cut-off, controls are needed. This will be interesting to watch. Teens will obviously share workarounds, so there is no guarantee that this will work. We also don’t want “the Great Wall of China” type environment that limits what people can read and see, but something must be done by the adults in the room.

What we have seen is an unprecedented abuse of power. Never before has a president worked to enrich himself this much as an open secret, and it can only happen with complacent branches of government. It is in their own best interests, not the American people, to turn a blind eye to the kid in the candy store, taking as much as they can, while he can. It is a race to the bottom as each things they can outlast the other. It only ends when Americans say it does.

And Now….

I hope you have friends and family members to share this time of the year with. We should also remember that we cannot assume the stature and freedoms we enjoy will always stay this way. Our country means something to the rest of the world. That comes with responsibility.

Keep up your reading habits and your progress.

Always strive to be a good human.