Short Introduction on a Slightly Dystopian Near Future
I made my first every Alt History writing exercise, it's about the near future, where I imagine that the US becomes more isolated and leads into Europe doing crazy things. The link is listed Below it's a very short read like 5 minutes and is supposed to read like a fragment of a historical document It's pretty introductory so no background knowledge is needed except for the points previously mentioned.
Some musings that were formed over a years finally put to words.
This text serves as an introduction to the world up to the day of upload on 12/9/2045. It is an independent work whose author chose to remain anonymous. After submission and further review by the Library of the European Confederation, this document has been notarized and copied for further use.
“Good morning. What more can I say than Good morning?”- Chris Mayermouth when informed about the Belmont Declaration from his jail cell
“If Freedom isn’t Free, then how come I’m not the one paying for it?”- General Kelechi Obasanjo sarcastic response to the escalating protest in Lagos
“The 2000s were a decade of turmoil, the 2010s a decade of hope, the 20s a decade of malaise, by the 30s we’ve all lost our minds, and now we find ourselves indifferent to the coming decade” - Elert Bode Satire about our Historical World pg 12
“The people wanted a Jimmy Carter, the establishment wanted a John Carnegie, my campaign wanted a JFK and all my kids wanted was their dad to come home every now and then and catch a movie or grab a bite to eat.”- President Brian Mcranson memoir White Elephant: The Cost of Running the White House
For the sake of Brevity, nothing before the dawn of the new millennium will be talked about in-depth except their consequences.
I do not need an introduction, not because I am above one, but because I’m beneath one. Consider this writing an act of rebellion against the nature of our chaotic times; after all, what's a greater rebellion against the present disorder than a highly ordered PDF? I understand the elitist nature of this opener, but I want to preserve my anonymity not for some ego trip but to give an accurate reports of events. Today, every academic or influencer of any sort always has something to gain by writing, whether its from one of the Guilds in the European Confederation the Great Technocratic Experiment that’s sweeping over Asia, or trying to squeeze out one last major hit in the US before the cultural capital of the world finally shifts East.
I am a historian educated in a traditional university for the record and transparency's sake. According to Forbes' ranking list, I currently hold a post at a very well-regarded institution. It wouldn’t be a shock if one of my colleagues were to find this and recognize me by my writing. However, I have nothing to gain from this publication, and if I can be trusted on anything, let it be that.
The 2000s was an uncertain time. The high from winning the Cold War was starting to wear off, and the Free World started to understand that this was an opening to a new chapter. The problem was that this new chapter was based on the previous chapter’s unclosed loose ends. This led to many cases of catastrophic irony, where groups funded by the US to hurt the USSR now turned the hatred onto the US and vice versa. This led to the United States galvanizing into a unified political front, backed by an immense amount of popular support. This further, combined with being the only global power at the time, gave the US an unprecedented and unheard amount of political weight. This weight was thrown around with such wanton neglect that by 2020, the United States was as divided internally and internationally isolated. This led to a geopolitical power vacuum that rippled throughout the world.
While many of my colleagues spend their professional lives searching for the various whys, I’ll present the three main causes put forward.
- Hypocrisy: The US was advertising itself on 20th-century values while engaging with 21st-century morality.
- The American Dream was being pitched to a generation with master's degrees who could barely keep up with artificial rent hikes, let alone buy a house.
- In a geopolitical sense, International credibility was strained when profits overtook human rights in international incidents—our responses to the Middle East can exemplify this.
- Corporatization turned community institutions into profit-driven entities, with insurance corporations dominating hospitals and nonprofits mimicking corporate models. Government policies, privatized to favor lobbyists, left constituents marginalized.
- Tension points: The United States had been approaching multiple points of tension.
- The corporate zeal towards profit pushed the outsourcing of many jobs to other countries.
- Income inequality had reached a zenith, with the top 5% of Americans owning 100 times more wealth than the middle class. This, combined with the rising cost of living, led to political strife.
- US foreign policy following the terrorist attacks after the turn of the millennia drained a majority of the diplomatic capital gained from the collapse of the Soviet Union. These wars were both costly politically and materially, resulting in the US becoming completely isolationist during the 20s.
- The privatization of US influence: The previous points allude to an international departure of US influence but a rise in corporate muscle. (this is as much an effect as a cause)
- Private Military Companies maintain an ever-growing presence in various wars around the world. The US may have abandoned its commitments but retained the material and manpower to allow other entities to continue them. This would grow to compromise around 30% of GDP at publication. This is a point of contention and further feeds into the hypocrisy of an isolated government that has dozens of armed companies under some form of influence.
- Science in the United States has always been more hands offish than other nations. However, recent trends led to the near independence of the nation's researchers from any form of governing bodies. The only influence present would be congresses of self-governance within each research body that feeds in a sort of national system that is influenced and separated from the federal government. (see Virgil Institute page 55 as an example)
The consequences of what occurred in the United States spread through out the world. With the strongest impact being felt in Europe.
The European Confederation came about in a similar way though lagging to the US’s. The United States withdrawal from the global scene caused Europe to radically transform. This transformation occurred in a slow centralization that resembled aspects of medieval feudalism.
The summary of events occured as such: US withdrawal shocked a continent that was so relient on the US. The domino effect of America’s military pull out of NATO forced Europe to re-militarize especially in the face of increased this led to a downgrade in social welfare, and an increased in the inter EU cooperation. Eventually this inter cooperation lead into Prague Declaration where the EU joined together in the year 2035. This system followed the Hundeberg model, a conviluted system that can be s the summarized by a part of the definition put forward in the Prague Declaration suffices.
The definition provided leads to an hourglass approach to governance where local people have the strongest input in their city-state, and the overarching Confederation handles national policy. This removes the idea of a nation within Europe, where now in its place resides dozens of city-states that come together in a parliament-like system with elected officials from within the parliament forming the governing body. This is done via a representative democracy from each citizen in the Confederation. However, individual city-states choose how each city-state is run locally. This has led to a resurgence in the roles of bishoprics and monarchies in quite a few city-states.
This system is simultaneously effective and also bureaucratic, with several different courts operating and flimsy boundaries between jurisdictions. It’s Byzantine but with a modern twist.
A unique caveat would be the resurgence of guilds. These guilds hold sway in everything from manufacturing, farming, research, education, and everywhere in between. Each guild has its own sense of politics and various factions and is overseen by the Confederation. As a result violence is somewhat common