Story: Future Sacrifices

Wrote this story idea down in my journal back in January. I want to write this story before the idea fades completely.

From my journal:
Thursday, January 17th, 2019
Got an idea for a story this afternoon, which I'll record here.
Future Sacrifices
A visitor from the future visits a Democratic Party think tank, imploring them to take certain actions in order to avoid future catastrophe.
He says a huge government project has sent him to the past - using the entire nations power output for 3 days - sending him back as far as possible.
After 15 minutes the visitor disappears, as the future has changed too much and he no longer exists as this verison.
The visitor says the cost of fighting climate change has impovished the country.
After the visitor  leaves the members of the think tank apply themselves and using the visitor's guidance get some things passed.
Then the visitor comes again. His description of the future is worse! Also his appearance is also worse. He says he was sent as far into the past as the future could afford (generate?).
- Each time the visitor appears, his description of the country/world is worse and he looks worse off himself. (By his last visit he's actually hard to look at. Painful body modifications)
- the visitor's guidance becomes continually more unethical. Lying, bribery, blackmail, assignation
- the membership of the think tank gets smaller and more fervent as moderates leave.
- the opposition reacts to the actions of the tank, resistance, matching attacks
- include target politician?
- include inventor of "high torque Stirling engine"?
-- reacting to the environment - economic, political
-- goes from barely started, monopoly fighting, jailed, political sponsor, to giving his fortune away
process repeats a many times until the present reaches the time when the visitor said he came from.
Despite of all of the tanks actions things have not gone the way they wanted.
(The last time the visitor came, he suggested assignations, but the members are caught)
The Democrats we lost and now an invigorated Libertarian Party is the best challenger to the Republications.
The tankettes can never understand why their actions seem to be making things worse - need an ironic statement of the truth, like "censoring those who don't agree with climate change makes the climate worse". Hint at the obtuseness of the tankettes.
While the people of the present remember the visitor, it's always the first time for the visitor. The future is changeable, just not in expected ways.
When the tankettes ask about their place in history, they are always in for a disappointment, no matter what they do.
- dispirited, the inventor sells his patent to a Chinese company.
- in the end the inventor sees no great need to invest in politics and does startups and charity instead.
The remaining not convicted tankettes look up the visitor, find he's a stoner, with friends in high-energy physics who have moved on.
End with the Republican party happy to have such opponents.

Need to create character in the think tank who we'll write the story around.