The pessimism may be well-founded, but how can you write an article like this and not mention race? The USA has become a less good place to be merely White, and people who have only had their Whiteness going for them are frightened. Our last civil war was about race, and so will be the next. Most civil wars are about the haves not wanting to share. When the haves can't even point to something they did to earn their privileges, things can get nasty in a hurry.