What do you think? No right or wrong answers in this thread.

[Stinky The Clown]

Where do you think this country will be in five years? Ten, maybe?

We're all feeling some things are serious. Some more than others. Some of us are single issue types. Some of us multitask.

So, just in general, where do you think the United States will be?

[Thomas Hurt]

1. We have been and continue to be on a path to christofascist theocracy...

I have seen nothing domestically or internationally that shows we have reached a point where our society has rejected the fascist minorities' continued drive to that goal. We are blithely ignoring the threat.

[lagomorph777]

3. I'm afraid you're right.

[rampartc]

7. president for life trump

[rampartc]

29. this seems to have been the "wrong answer" that the op assured was not possible

my apologies to anyone who thinks i support this person, am merely predicting one possible dystopian future.

[-misanthroptimist]

2. Tough for me to say for five years.

However, I think in ten years that this country will be far to the left of where most people think possible today.

The down side is that due to climate change in 25 years there is a pretty good chance that this country will be in the process of disintegration. (Most countries will probably be in the same boat.)

[PortTack]

8. Agree! The really sad part, we could have done something to change it..but no!

And the US is right up there with China as far as doing nothing!

[-misanthroptimist]

12. It's worse than that even

The only real reason why China is even in the mix is because the US (and the West generally) moved our heavy industry to China.

[Lettuce Be]

4. I think the next 10 - 20 years are likely to be pretty rough going

With the repugs actually promoting "do nothing" for the next four years in the hopes they can steal the election in 2024, there's not a lot of hope for this country. Voting rights being stripped, women's rights being stripped. It's insane. We're literally going back to the 1940s. I don't say much along these lines since I have grandkids and seriously don't want to bum them out but holy smokes, this looks grim to me.

I feel this is what it felt like to be an adult in the early 40s -- imagine the horror, though at least they didn't have to see it up close and personal the way we do now. The disinformation pipeline is also so much more prevalent -- in those days you had to go out of your way to hear propaganda, now it's turn on the TV and boom, in your face lies non stop. I just seriously feel so thankful I'm not in my early 20s which is a terrible way to feel.

[LifeLongDemocratic]

5. Methane

Does it matter. By 2030 we will all be dead from the methane levels.

[-misanthroptimist]

13. Highly unlikely

Methane breaks down rather quickly in the atmosphere. But it definitely will add to the amount of warming.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. Mostly Accurate

Methane is very susceptible to free radical formation due to uV absorption. So, it does decompose readily in the upper atmosphere.
Now, the resultant reaction products (mostly rapid oxidation) are also uV absorbers (as well as infrared light), but the molar absorptivity is lower. Except, of course, in the case of full oxidation, which makes....you guessed it....CO2. (Plus water, also a strong absorber of nonvisible light.)
It will still be a warming problem, just not quite as bad as methane itself.

[-misanthroptimist]

33. Not as bad, but for a much longer time.

Thanks for doing the details that I was too lazy to type!

[SoCalDavidS]

6. If My Parents Are Deceased In 10 Years, I Plan To Be Elsewhere

I don't see any way this country can function long term, given the division between reality and insanity.

Even if 60% are normal and sane, the remaining 40% are set on burning it all down, and inventing their own reality. It is not sustainable on a national basis for long.

Everything will get worse, that's my opinion, and so far this century, I've seen nothing to change it.

[Towlie]

9. Between Canada and Mexico.

 
←

Seriously, the most difficult things to predict are those that will be determined by human beings. If you had asked that 10 years ago then the very few who were right would have been called crazy.

[Crunchy Frog]

10. Authoritarian or totalitarian dictatorship.

Best case scenario is no death squads or mass arrests. Worst case is something like Rwanda, but more organized and sustained.

I'm going to do everything I can to not be in the country when it happens.

[doc03]

11. In 2023 the Republicans will take back the House. The Republican

House will impeach Biden. If Democrats don't break the filibuster we will be in a dictatorship in 2025.

[Mr.Bill]

18. The Senate will not have 67 votes to remove

President Biden from office. But I do agree that a republican House will impeach Biden. Probably weekly.

[SoonerPride]

14. Republican dictatorship and temps in the 130s in the desert SW

[I_UndergroundPanther]

15. Unless dems

Decide to get rid of the filibuster, and pass some bills we will be fucked for years.

Republicans will destroy the social safety net,screw the poor and impoverish the middle class if not outright destroy it. Slavery returns and people accept it because they are desperate in dire straights. The repugs distopian dream would have come true.

There will be food riots,lots of abuse going unchecked in households and in government,lots of grifting, racism,women's rights are decimated,the lbgt population mistreated and killed by bad cops along with black and brown people. The taking away of human rights..until the suffering people say enough of this shit and do what must be done to the billionaires and conservatism and anyone who adheres to it. A civil war.

Hopefully
After it's all over we learn conservatism is tyranny and the republicans are run out of the country and the billionaires stripped of thier wealth are run out or killed.

Then the rebuilding starts if climate change,poverty or abuse by authoritarian fear loving assholes haven't killed off too many people.

[AZ8theist]

16. From your lips to Sinema's brain-dead head...

[MLAA]

17. With climate change I think we will be struggling greatly to get by.

[betsuni]

19. About the same. Climate change worse, of course.

[BannonsLiver]

20. In continued decline

Which will be blamed on everything but the root cause — half the population is completely rotten.

[Binkie The Clown]

21. Struggling to survive the incresingly dire consequences of climate change. nt

[MissMillie]

22. I don't think a whole lot is going to change.

Mostly because of the attack on voting rights.

But until we can elect a legislative branch that is willing to fix the tax code and invest in the people of this country--not much will change.

[11 Bravo]

23. In 10 years my wife and I will be relaxing at our beachfront home ...

in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

[ananda]

24. Not in a good place..

judging by the way climate change is getting
so drastic so often.

[Sympthsical]

25. If you watch cable news - we're all going to die. If not, probably ok.

We'll do better than surmised, but will not be doing nearly as much as we need to for the problems we will face in the next two decades.

Everyone thinks the world is doomed. It is not. We're living through the most peaceful period in history. Standards of living are up. Are they where they should be? Newp. And they won't be with incrementalism. But that is ever what the status quo is.

Covid was interesting. Also - hopefully - a once in a century event.

Technology will continue to improve. The West's energy will continue to grow greener, while the developing world and industrializing economies (China, India, et al) will not be helpful.

Then climate change will put us through a very difficult time.

There will a generational change in leadership - finally. I think the right-wing cycle will finally end as problems become too profound to ignore. We'll probably start finally drifting Left after 40 years of "Jesus Christ, what are you all thinking?"

History moves as it does. People who think it's all down from here, again, probably watch a lot of cable news. Fear sells. Fear gets clicks and eyeballs. "We're all doomed! And make sure you hate everyone that isn't you!" is what gets people on Twitter and news sites and blogs.

Social media have made us too partisan, too isolated, too comfortable in very small bubbles of ideology. That cannot sustain. There will be a breaking point and a blowback. It will surprise many, and they will cry and whine about it relentlessly. Shame.

We'll be fine. Not as good as we could be, not as bad as we're constantly being told.

[nolabear]

26. I tend to agree. It's going to be rough, but I think we'll survive.

Those who are really pushing and grifting off the fascist line are going to die out. And I firmly believe media shows us the most horrific to keep us stirred up (it works) but that most people, while they might not be as liberal as I am, are not cultists and those who grift off of them.

Now, if we can just get our shit together on the climate crisis we might survive as a planet.

[Sympthsical]

28. I'm an optimist

I don't think most human beings are bad. Most are trying to survive. But a small group of evil people can get away with an awful lot if left unchecked. But, looking at Trumpism, I wouldn't say he's getting away with it. The MSM is on his ass on the daily. Probably too much. (I do not ever care about who Don Jr. is dating).

Climate change is going to be the story for the rest of my life, I feel (older Millennial). But we forget how adaptable humans are. We've made a mess. We're going to pay a price. Probably a very painful one.

But we'll manage. We have so far.

[stillcool]

30. un- "united"...like Europe

and un-empire, like Russia. Don't know how it will play out, but divvying up the pot should be interesting. Probably already happening.

[Enoki33]

31. I suspect the climate crisis will accelerate

to a point where it destabilizes politics and society to provide increasing fertile atmosphere for authoritarian rule, or outright dictatorship. The past flagrant political abuse of the rule of law has already provided a roadmap for those that see white christian minority rule as a solution to all problems. Idealism is not a winning strategy to combat the threat. The good news is it doesn't have to happen. But only if we act now.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

32. WE will have a stronger Democratic majority

My fox loving mom's generation is getting old and dying.


The younger generations are tired of super high housing prices
Tired of health care premiums going only up
More tolerant then previous generation

We need to get rid of slave related things like the electoral college. It turned an 8 million vote victory into a 80k slim majority in 4 states and that is just wrong.

We need a huge overhaul in the senate on both sides, Fresh blood, people without 7 figures in their bank, people who don't have a vested interest in every issue before them.

We need a full Catholic awakening from the creatures on the supreme court who currently don't understand what it means. It means that You care about everybody whether you like them or not.


We need to take cannabis of the schedule 1 track and let everybody in prison out, because of it.

We need to remember that we as a country have ignored infrastructure for more then 40 years on some things, like mental health care and we need to get going

Either Fox news dies with all the people who won't take the vaccine or we have new ignorant party of the the former guy.
That party has no issues to run on, so they run only on hate and fear and wedge issues.

Our majority is lead by people like Katie Porter and rafeal warnock and stacey abrams and beto o'roarke. People who work for everybody

TFG proved one thing, people are getting left behind in this country. Most of those people let hate and ignorance get in they way of their thought process.

I hope going forward we can get people to think again.
I hope we continue to be a beacon of compassion and empathy.
I hope that people start really care about other people, if they do then surely a democratic majority will grow out of that alone.

[EndlessWire]

34. We are going to have to fight these fascist assholes

every step of the way. I just don't get it. Why would anyone choose to live under the thumb of some jerk instead of their own initiative is beyond me. What are they looking for? Daddy? Too lazy to make a choice? I hope we are able to move on from the Repub party. Let them fall behind and disappear into our rearview mirror.

Water will become an issue.

We need to return to space. Not as civilians, but as a military force.

Emphasis on Science.

But mostly, the Chiefs will win the Super Bowl.

If we win big at the Midterms, and in 2024, gay people everywhere will win. But, if we don't, we will see a purge the likes of which we have never seen.