A columnist in northern California wrote predictions for New Year’s Day in 2006 that imagined what life would look like in the year 2026. Many of the predictions were off-base (including the idea that Dick Cheney would serve as president) but they serve as an interesting snapshot of the hopes and fears of a particular era. And they start off with one reference that hits a little close to home for those of us witnessing a new war unfold in the Middle East.
“Well, 2025 is over,” the 2006 column in the Ukiah Daily Journal reads, placing the reader 20 years into the future.
“The Iran War finally came to an end when newly elected Pres. Barack Obama brought everyone to the table to settle once and for all the division of territory and oil reserves among the 15 tribal leaders from Iran, the former Iraq, the former Libya and the former Syria,” the column continues.
Written by K.C. Meadows, it’s an incredible opener for those of us with the benefit of living in a time she could only imagine. President Donald Trump launched a new war against Iran on Feb. 28 without any clear rationale or objectives. When the Iraq War was launched in 2003, President George W. Bush at least had the decency to lie to the American people and pretend like Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.
We’ve received no song and dance this time as Trump changes his explanations for the war daily. But remembering what it was like in the mid-2000s is helpful when assessing this artifact of retro-futurism from Meadows.
From the article:
The region has been in a free for all conflict, a kind of multinational civil war ever since former Pres. Dick Cheney abandoned the idea of creating a democracy in Iraq in 2008. Acknowledging that terrorism appeared once again to be winning, the U.S. that year sent more than 1 million troops to Iraq, and the number has been fluctuating since. Cheney, of course, succeeded George W. Bush in the White House when Bush resigned after revelations about the secret wiretapping of the House Speaker and Senate Leader’s offices as well as the secret government program tapping into the emails of all Californians.
There was no President Cheney, though plenty of people during President Bush’s two terms (Jan. 2001- Jan. 2009) believed that he was the real puppet master pulling the strings. In this timeline, President Cheney presumably serves well into what would be President Barack Obama’s real terms (Jan. 2009- Jan. 2017), and Obama would be elected later.
Obama became a nationally known figure in 2004 when he gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention saying that there wasn’t a blue America or a red America, there was actually a purple America. Obviously Obama’s trajectory to become president would be more accelerated than Meadows predicted, since Obama was imagined as the one who would be ending the Iran War in 2025.
Meadows also looked at the local situation in Mendocino County, north of the Bay Area. The county has long been a hub for marijuana cultivation, especially in the mid-2000s after the legalization of medicinal use in 1996 and the expansion of the program in 2003. As Meadows was writing in 2006, drug legalization was certainly on the minds of readers in the area.
From the article:
Of course he had plenty to worry about in California where Mendocino County was the first county to prohibit DEA agents anywhere inside its borders without a chaperone from the local ACLU chapter as well as the Sheriff’s Department and someone from a local Boy Scout Pack. That ordinance is still enforced today and has spread through other counties as well, although now that most drugs are legal, the DEA hasn’t had much to do.
Meadows was clearly having a bit of fun with this prediction. But cannabis has been legalized for recreational use in 26 states and can be used for medicinal purposes in 40.
The article went on to predict that a new housing development in the area would have a total ban on cars and 24-hour bus service would be available. It also predicted that gas prices would be at $15.50 per gallon, something that may have seemed more absurd as recently as a month ago.
Bus service sure grew this year with several private bus and taxi services competing now with MTA. With gas prices at $15.50 per gallon, most people in town now ride the bus, and service is surprisingly good, especially to the four big box retail centers in Ukiah -the former Wal-Mart – now Costco – center, the Pear Tree Center where the 300,000 square-foot Trader Joes is located, the former Longs Center where the 125,000 square-foot Schat’s Bakery is located and the former City Hall site where Nordstrom’s moved awhile back.
The national average for a gallon of gas was $2.90 before President Trump decided to start an aimless war in Iran. The average is now up to $3.91 according to AAA.
The article also predicted that the population of Mendocino County would rise only slightly by the 2020 Census to a little over 100,000 people. The real number was 91,601, higher than the 2000 Census when the country had 86,265 people.
Meadows also predicted that more families would be moving back to the area since the “Real Estate Depression” that would’ve happened around 2016. In reality, the global financial crisis spurred on by the housing market would happen much earlier in 2008.
From the article:
When home prices dove to 1987 levels 10 years ago during the Real Estate Depression, lots of young families moved back to the area and have been instrumental in the continuing boom of charter schools in our county. In fact, this year, Mendocino County had more charter schools than all other counties in the state – except for LA – combined. Our 1,200 charter schools provide services in all K-12 grades and we even have an experimental charter college at the former Grace Hudson Elementary School site taking freshmen this year. Enrollment in the Ukiah Unified School District is down to about 250 children and they are all housed at what is now known as Pomolita Public School.
Meadows finished off the article by talking about an earthquake and a reference to the mayor allegedly tearing down his historic house in 2005 without the proper permits.
This year’s earthquake was a shocker but there were no fatalities. A lot of homeowners in the western hills suffered damage but there were no reports of damage in the valley, except of course from former Mayor Mark Ashiku who said the home he was renovating on Oak Street “just fell down.” The city is investigating.
Meadows didn’t respond to an email asking how she felt about her 2006 column and the predictions she made. We’ll update this article if we hear back.
