Last October during the whole government shutdown psychodrama, columnist Maureen Dowd used the pages of the New York Times to venture into the realm of dystopian fiction. Entering a kind of Twilight Zone of the liberal mind, she envisioned a future America destroyed by Ted Cruz and the Tea Party. After we stopped laughing we asked our community of writers to respond, each in their own individual way. We called it a 'contest' to see who could write better than Maureen Dowd. But since practically anyone can write better than Maureen Dowd, in the end, there was no declared winner. (We have our favorites, but the way we see it, beyond maintaining basic standards and promoting stuff we like, we are not here to impose our taste on others.) Anyway, we liked what our friends sent in and have posted their responses below. By all means check them out. And as always, if you like what you read, remember to hit the author's tipjar on your way out.