During the last 16 years of the 19th century, no fewer than 49 utopian and dystopian novels were published, perhaps the most famous of which was Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward. This extraordinary book depicted what the world was like when its protagonist, Julian West, woke up from a century’s sleep and opened his eyes before the kindly visage of a certain Dr. Leete, who guided him throughout the remainder of the narrative. The doctor’s long series of speeches are detailed and tendentious, but no doubt were fascinating to readers who yearned for a positive social blueprint that would overcome the agonies of America’s early industrial era.

In the 20th century, George Orwell’s 1984, perhaps the most famous dystopian work of all time, dwelt on the barbarisms of modern totalitarianism, drawn especially from his analysis of Stalin’s Soviet Union. The enduring impact of this remarkable book is impossible to understate, especially as it has imparted to us the adjective “Orwellian” for anything that smacks of doublethink, thought police, Big Brother, and his terrifying three slogans of The Party: “War is Peace,” “Ignorance is Strength,” and “Freedom is Slavery.”

When it comes to expounding on progressive fantasies about the world to come, it is hard to improve on Bellamy. On the other hand, Orwell’s horrifying narrative makes the Dark Side of the Force look like a walk in the park and Darth Vader seem like Jimmy Carter.

The question is: which one seems more credible to 21st century sensibilities, Bellamy or Orwell? Although some, like the estimable Kurt Schlichter, take a more optimistic tone (see his 2014 book, Conservative Insurgency), I am more inclined to think that Orwell is the better prognosticator, especially considering how today’s progressive policies ooze with Orwellian tyrannies, ostensibly to attain a sort of Bellamy-like or Marxist end state. On this score, Orwell has an advantage over Bellamy, regardless of the amazing popularity the latter enjoyed when his book was published in 1888, because of the mind-numbing grotesqueries that defined last century’s totalitarian regimes in Germany, Russia, and China (and still today in Cuba and North Korea). On the other hand, the illusions of modern liberal-progressives have yet to find their expression anywhere at any time in the experience of humanity.

Still, being in a generous mood, let us permit the better angels of our nature to inspire us with Bellamy’s optimistic assumption that it is possible to project future developments on the basis of contemporary social and political trends, while leaving in abeyance his thought-experiment about the heavenly city that awaits us all in a century or so. Then let us scoop into the well of our soul’s darkest chamber and spew out a few fragments of life of American Looking Backward—2050. Let the account begin:

Dear Reader:

Allow me first to caution you about the handling of this manuscript. Since the banning of paper based on the Government Ordered Directive 2045, it has been nearly impossible to find enough quality sheets to transcribe even a fraction of what we know about the former United States of America before the Great Enabling Act of 2033. Thus, if you wish to reproduce these pages for further dissemination, please be sure to turn the pages of what you’re reading with the greatest care and reverence. We have learned, much to our surprise, that stashes of paper may be found in well-hidden caches in what were formally known as rural areas, now referred to as country paddocks.

It is most likely that you are a younger individual reading these words. Indeed, the sole purpose of this book is to render an account of what the former United States was like, because unless you are very fortunate it is unlikely that you would have encountered anyone who was born in the 20th century. As you know, the so-called Great Freedom Migration authorized by a mysterious rule passed during the pre-history of this country, called “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” (AFFH) eventually led to the mass removal of older persons, or anyone with a decent memory, to their own sectors, where they were cut off from any connection to the rest of world. Only accounts such as the one you’re reading remain of the old world.  

But before we turn to that, let us review what we know about the Union of Consolidated Sectors (UCS). All of you know by heart the three slogans of the DemProgs, but you may not know how they came into being. The first one was the result of the newly formed Civil Rights Department (CRD) of 2040, where an argument broke out about the department’s slogan, which originally was, “To Each His Own.” The Fem-men sector objected to this because of its horribly outdated and biologically disgusting male reference. Thus, it was changed in the following way: “To All Their Due.” About the other two slogans, “Diversity is Unity,” and “Life is Death,” we will comment later.

The slogans of the DemProgs and the UCS (which amounted to the same entity after the Great Purge) are not the only new developments in post-history. The CRD referred to above is in charge of Group Worth Investigations (GWI’s), which, as you know, involves the perpetration of terrorist activities against arbitrarily chosen sectors of the UCS, but mostly against those who enjoyed something called “White Privilege” in pre-history. The organization formerly known by its abbreviation HUD is now known as Housing and Urban Diversity. An organization formerly known as the EPA was greatly expanded and renamed in 2041 as the Department of Earth Worship (DEW). After the banning and elimination of Christianity, the DemProgs believed that a quasi-religious substitute was needed. It is believed, though not confirmed, that they got this idea from a man named Robespierre, with whom I’m sure you’re not familiar, because of the great book burning of 2035.

Some organizations didn’t change their names, such as the Department of Justice, which is in charge of mass incarcerations and works closely with Civil Rights Department. The Department of Education remains in charge of mass indoctrination and retained its name, some said, for reasons of nostalgia, though that too cannot be confirmed. Perhaps the most notorious and feared organization, even more so than all those cited above, is one that also retained its pre-history name: Planned Parenthood. Since its absorption by the Union of Consolidated Sectors as a government entity, PP was put in charge of all births in the country. In fact, not satisfied with the huge sale of fetal body parts of the late 2010s, the organization branched out into new endeavors. That’s when the killing began…