Have I no hope for the future of America?

Have I no hope for the future of America?  A friend asked me this by email recently.  Here's my reply:

I really have given up hope for the future of this grand experiment called America.  I don't see any path to a shining future for the U.S. shy of a revolution that fundamentally changes our form of government.  The best I can gin up is that we had a good long run compared with most forms of government ever tried.  I still have hope that I'll be able to live out my life relatively unmolested by the government, but even that is fading slowly.

On a daily basis I am grateful that I do not have children whose likely future would haunt me...

Tom...