The United States in 2076

Discuss the evolution of human culture, economics and politics in the decades and centuries ahead

Which scenario is most likely for 2076?

1. Expansion – The U.S. expands beyond its current borders, with Canada and/or Mexico being annexed or voluntarily unifying, either partially or fully.
4
14%
2. Status quo – The U.S. remains largely the same as in 2022, with little or no change to its territory or unity.
12
43%
3. Balkanisation – The U.S. becomes divided into two, or perhaps several independent regions (e.g. north and south, or coastal areas), each with its own government.
8
29%
4. Extreme balkanisation – Severe political, economic, environmental or other turmoil has resulted in a breakdown of the U.S. into dozens or even hundreds of separate entities.
1
4%
5. Total collapse – Climate change, war, and/or other existential threats are so catastrophic, the U.S. effectively no longer exists. Most or all of the country is in anarchy.
3
11%
 
Total votes: 28

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wjfox
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The United States in 2076

Post by wjfox »

4th July 2076 will mark the tricentennial of American independence.

This follows the bicentennial of 1976, a hundred years earlier, which saw major celebrations from coast to coast.

What do you imagine the United States will be like in 2076? Will the country even still exist as a unified entity?

How might America evolve in terms of politics, economics, demographics and culture in the 54 years between now and then?

This could make for an interesting prediction on our timeline, and I only want to write something that has a consensus/majority view, so I'm interested in your ideas and suggestions.


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joe00uk
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Re: The United States in 2076

Post by joe00uk »

I would be very surprised if the United States still existed in 2076. Perhaps some smaller rump state in the Mid-Atlantic region will still call itself the "United States", but I don't think there's much chance that all the territories currently belonging to the federal government will stay together for another 50 years.
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caltrek
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Re: The United States in 2076

Post by caltrek »

I like to think in terms of alternative timelines.

One alternative might very well be along the lines that joe00uk suggests. I would just add that the West coast might also belong to what remains of the "United States" although it might form its own country with relatively close ties to that remaining original nation.

Seceding states might include Texas, states in the deep south, and some of the states of the mid-West (with perhaps Colorado and New Mexico remaining as part of the "United States."}

What would divide them?

The belief in the importance of "one person one vote" democracy. The Big Lie is just a disguised way of saying that people of color should not enjoy the same voting rights as folks of strictly West European descent. So, as with the Civil War, seceding states might insist on a sort of caste system. One that would also be marked by xenophobic immigration policies. Alternatively, it might be the Blue states that secede to avoid being under a Trumpian like tyrant.

Ukraine shows us that one thing that would have to be worked out would be the disposition of nuclear weapons. The two or three resulting nations might each want to retain a portion of the nuclear arsenal to ensure against invasion from the other.

Abortion rights might be respected in the new Blue republics, while "right to life" laws might prevail in the red republics.

The new Red State republics might continue to pursue privatization and deregulation, while the Blue state republics might see a flourishing of communes, co-ops, labor unions and secular non-profit institutions, along with relatively strict environmental protection laws.

In the other alternative timeline, Trumpism would recede and "one person one vote" democracy would once again be realized as a national value. Tensions over cultural issues such as LGBT+ rights might also recede as all segments of all geographic regions would come to accept such rights as have been recently codified into law. The issue of abortion might continue to fester, with the Supreme Court more or less completely overturning Roe v. Wade, or a more liberal court could come to reinstate abortion rights.

On the economic front, extreme divisions in wealth between the one per-centers and the poor might lessen in severity.

I will leave likely technological development up to other FT forum participants to propose and discuss.
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wjfox
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Re: The United States in 2076

Post by wjfox »

I might add a poll to this thread to see what the likely scenario is, regarding a potential breakup or not.

What poll options do you think I should include?
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joe00uk
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Re: The United States in 2076

Post by joe00uk »

wjfox wrote: Sat Mar 05, 2022 5:56 pm I might add a poll to this thread to see what the likely scenario is, regarding a potential breakup or not.

What poll options do you think I should include?
Perhaps something like:

By 2076, which of the following do you think is the most likely scenario for the United States?

1. Dissolution into several new nations
2. Attempted but failed dissolution/secession
3. Uncontested survival as a single political entity (meaning the US stays together without any attempted secessions)
4. Most of the US stays together with only small areas seceding (e.g. if it was limited to something like Hawaiian independence)
weatheriscool
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Re: The United States in 2076

Post by weatheriscool »

1. Dissolution into several new nations

Most likely...Far too many groups that hate each other and have historic reasons to want to break off.
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Re: The United States in 2076

Post by erowind »

Joe’s poll options are pretty good I want to add one.

5. System Change: For better or worse through reform or revolution the United States of 2076 is no longer the same country that it was at the turn of the millennium.

The internal contradictions of a representative democracy that doesn’t address political corruption have come to a head as America’s myriad of social and economic issues trended poorly through the first half of the 21st century. As a result, many of America’s political institutions of the last century have being gutted and completely reconstructed from the ground up to reflect the conditions of 2076’s America. The union remains mostly intact, perhaps with minor secessions on its periphery in the form of Puerto Rican independence or Hawaii’s secession. All 48 contiguous states remain part of this future union whether it be a fascist American Union State, United Socialist States of America, The Ecological American Republic or some other unforeseen permutation.
Last edited by erowind on Sun Mar 06, 2022 6:42 am, edited 2 times in total.
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raklian
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Re: The United States in 2076

Post by raklian »

6. Nothing significantly changes except for the electoral map which will be more Democratic with a wider proliferation of Independents and a tiny Republican minority. Congress finally has a 3rd party - the Progressive Party - which is a vestige of the dissolved UK Parliament and it rivals the Democrats in the number of Congressional seats. England becomes 53rd state after Puerto Rico and District of Columbia, with Alberta in a decades long negotiations to join the federation as the 54th. It is all thanks to President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's outstanding performance during her two terms in the 2030s-2040s which reinvigorates the American experiment by successfully implementing social reforms (basic income, universal healthcare, free education, a dramatically reduced defense budget, etc.) which becomes known as the "Greater Deal" that dramatically eases the societal ills that plagued Americans in the earlier decades. Congress makes several attempts to amend the Constitution to allow another two terms for her, but the Independents and Republicans mount a desperate resistance that is eventually successful.
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Doozer
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Re: The United States in 2076

Post by Doozer »

Frankly, I see the United States going down the path of Rome in the next century or so.
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Re: The United States in 2076

Post by Lurking »

Doozer wrote: Sun Mar 06, 2022 5:07 am Frankly, I see the United States going down the path of Rome in the next century or so.
I would see it more similar to what happened to England or France, USSR at worst.
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