and they are us

You know those dystopic novels all the kids are reading? Ever wonder what happened a few generations before page 1? Maybe something like this: government shutdown by fundamentalist minority; rising civilian gun violence; erratic weather; increasing percentage of immune disorders; decline in goods production; gambling-based economy; erosion of stabilizing middle class creating an unbreachable divide in the citizenry... On the bright side, one of you may be the 3x-great grandparent of the teen-aged girl who's going to save the future.