A few years ago, I began my first dystopian future book series about young Jack Kennedy, an Iowa farm boy growing up in the early twenty-second century. There are a lot of dystopian stories out there, and I needed mine to be different. Due to my age (60+) and upbringing as the son of a US Air Force officer, I am conservative by nature. That was not true in my college days, but working in factories and companies around the globe for forty plus years will do that to a person.
I decided I needed a truly horrifying scenario, where virtually everyone lived in abject poverty while the politicians and super-rich lived in opulence in the secure domed centers of the massive and sprawling cities filled with tenements and shacks. The cities were surrounded by walls to protect the citizens from roving bands of criminals and terrorists who controlled the rest of our country. Farmers, like Jack’s parents, lived in small walled towns far from the perceived safety provided by the police in the cities.
In that future, the nation was bankrupted by the crooked politicians and their devotion to resolving climate change. Livestock was eliminated to preserve the climate. That created a problem. In a bankrupt country with the rich demanding their steaks and the poor desperate for anything to eat, how can a nation avoid a revolution? My disgusting solution: cannibalism.
National bankruptcy had eliminated all social safety nets. Social Security and Medicare were things of the past. The government had no money or will to care for anyone except themselves. Rather than let the old drop dead on the streets, why not convert them to meat for the citizens? First of all, people’s bodies are not in great shape at death. Kill them a bit younger when they have more meat on their bones. Money would then be allocated to purchase animal protein from other countries for the elite. Problem solved.
Sounds awful, right? Frankly, some of the scenes I wrote horrified me! Without a doubt, the fourth and final book was the most terrifying of all. But the books are not the subject of this post.
I purposely put that into my stories to shock and horrify readers. Now, it turns out not to be as far-fetched as I thought. Following are links to a few recent stories that make me realize I might have truly seen the future:
Link 1: Discussing that the flatulence from livestock really is a major cause of climate change:
Links 2 and 3: The super-high cost of the Green New Deal and Medicare for All are highlighted on these two stories. It should be noted that these two programs require the Federal government to collect three times as much tax as they do now. Look at your own tax return and see how makes you feel
https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/aoc-green-new-deal-cost-american-household
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/medicare-for-all-cost-184135544.html
Link 4: This story is from a Swedish scientist who claims we should consume the bodies of dead people and stop raising livestock to avert climate change:
https://www.foxnews.com/world/swedish-scientist-eat-human-flesh-climate-change
I do not know which news or websites you like, but these are just random selections from my search. There were many different links to choose. You certainly should do your own research.
As the title to his post says, knowing the future is not necessarily a good thing. I certainly hope my fantasy novels remain fantasy only. The only saving grace for me is that the first book takes place in the year 2121. I would be over 150 years old then, so if my dates prove prescient, the readers of this post have little to fear.
For those interested, the books in the Revolution Series are shown here:
Friends and #RRBC colleagues, please let me know if you think I am crazy or prescient. To be honest, I would prefer crazy.