Over at Slate, they're planning for the end of America. Don't worry, it won't happen soon, and it wont be for any knee-jerk reasons like Bush's policies or a slow onslaught of socialism. But there are people who contemplate how America will eventually end, and Slate has compiled some of the most credible theories.The first scenario presented is one of total climate disaster. The closest example would be the Dust Bowl, but on a national scale. The west and southwest would become arid deserts, and the cities on the eastern seaboard would be underwater, forcing a massive relocation of American citizens to Rust Belt cities. Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and other now-dying former industrial metropolises would face a sudden wave of refugees, and the American government potentially could not handle the costs of caring for that many displaced people. The country then implodes. Essays on options, including states forming breakaway republics, will be coming throughout the week. You can decide for yourself which one is worth the most worry and planning for. Ridiculous? Maybe. But if you're insisting on a belief in continued American existence for the foreseeable future, you may want to brush up on your Gibbon (not to mention your Taleb).The author, Josh Levin, has also compliled an exhuastive list of every proposed theory for the death of American, from the relatively realistic to the ridiculous. You can view them all in a fun interactive viewer here. They run the gamut from "The Red Dawnscenario: A hostile alliance of foreign powers dispatches a team of elite combat troops to America. They launch a coordinated assault with thousands of paratroopers on key military and communications installations, dealing the U.S. government a fatal blow" to "Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev once discussed banding together to fight off a UFO attack. For all the happy talk about cooperation, when the tractor beams come down, it's every country for itself."
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