Twenty years or less, is my guess.

I am not hopeful for the future. In twenty years or less, so-called modern western society will be unalterably changed, mostly due to climate change and increased feudalism brought about by ongoing weather disasters, environmental wreckage, the end of cheap oil, and armed confrontations over water and fuel and medicine.

My beloved USA will feel the effects worse than almost any other advanced corner of the world, thanks to decades of intensifying efforts by half our leadership to ignore and deny scientific facts, while the other half of our leadership ignores their opponents' lies, treats the liars with respect instead of derision, and makes quarter-baked flimsy and often failed attempts to address the most important issues.

Black Lives Matter, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Greta Thunberg are among the few positive lights in a very dark night, but our nation and world are under the control of Exxon-Mobil, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, and Mitch McConnell, so the action that's needed is perpetually blocked.

20 years or less and it's over is my guess, which is probably too optimistic. If Trump wins or steals or postpones the election in November, America will be vastly different almost immediately. Even if Joe Biden wins, and even if Donald Trump doesn't barricade and refuse to leave the White House, it's hard to imagine that Mr Middle-of-the-Road Biden would, as President, make the sea-changes needed to right the ship of state.

I hate facing facts, sorry, but refusing to face facts is worse. I'm old, though, so unless the final stages of the collapse come awfully quick, I'll be gone before the worst of it comes — before the cities are submerged, before speaking out gets you arrested and jailed, before the next nincompoop ignores the next pandemic, etc. Take it as a kindness, please, when I say that I hope you'll be gone before the worst of it, too.

Other than that, though, have a great weekend!

 

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