Scenario # 2

The year is 2026.  Who is in power is irrelevant, because they all know they ultimately have to answer to the people.  ALL the people--rich, poor, all races, religions, all citizens of the United States of America.  Everyone has a voice--a vote--and everyone knows how important it is to be informed, to be an active participant in the system.  Politicians, from the local to the national level, know they work for their constituents, and that to ignore that means they will lose their position.
It was not always so, and the citizens of the United States know how close they came to losing their power.  Beginning in 2010, the GOP tried very, very, very hard to manipulate the system, to make it work for them.  They rejoiced when the Supreme Court ruled that "corporations are people too".  They threw millions of dollars into the 2012 presidential election, in an effort to get Mitt Romney elected president.  Now THERE was a guy they could control!  The GOP pandered to the Tea Party, to the "Religious" Right, to the wealthy.  They set up Fox as their official news network, and funded ALEC.  They told voters it was all about "Jobs, jobs, jobs". but it really was about gerrymandering Congressional districts, suppressing voters rights, and most of all, it was about taking away the rights of women.
Oh yes, if they could keep women from power, any power at all, it would be a very good thing indeed.
And the GOP had some early successes--they got some really harsh legislation passed in some states--South Dakota, Virginia, Wisconsin, Iowa, Mississippi--got a lot of women's health clinics closed, prevented a lot of women, especially the poor ones, from prenatal care, from contraception.  People didn't seem to care much, because it was mostly the poor who were affected.
Those successes made the GOP giddy, and they passed more and more laws, each more heinous than the last.  It looked like they were going to succeed!
But then it happened.  Women started dying.  Women who didn't have access to prenatal care, women who were raped (some as young as 10), women who saw no other option than to shove something inside themselves to end a pregnancy--they started dying.  They were women who others knew, women who were loved by others.
The citizens of the United States "woke up".  They said, "Enough!"  They said, "Stop!"  More and more each day "woke up".  More and more each day joined others.  They organized.  They protested.  They supported candidates--young, old, they campaigned.  They voted.
The GOP died in 2017; it committed suicide by pandering to those who had no interest in working with others who didn't think exactly as they did.  GOP candidates kept lying to the public, and "feeding" their special interests.  Fortunately, our two party system was revitalized by the young conservatives who joined with the old stalwarts of the GOP--those who really believed in fiscal responsibility, but who were willing to work with Democrats to make sure the US was the best it could be.  The new party?  They call themselves the GNP--the Grand NEW Party, and they are committed to keeping their party free of radical ideology.  Women are welcome in the GNP.  
The Affordable Care Act was fully implemented, fully, funded, tweaked, and tweaked again.  Now, in 2026, there is universal health care for all Americans.  People are enjoying a healthier life because:

1. Birth control is free and widely available.  Accurate sex education is taught in all schools. 
2. Babies are healthier, and there are almost no unwanted pregnancies.  With universal prenatal care, mothers are healthier before conceiving, and any complications are dealt with immediately.
3. With a lower birth rate, it's very easy to educate every child, from birth through college.  Poverty rates are falling, and dropping out of school is virtually unheard of.  
4. The US has the most highly educated workforce in the world.  The advances in science, technology, medicine are amazing!  Productivity is high, because people are paid enough so they don't have to worry.  And, since health care is universal, going bankrupt because of medical bills is a thing of the distant past, and employees can actually focus on work.  
5. New sources of energy have been developed and refined.  The planet is actually cooling down, and the abundance of crops, combined with zero population growth, means that no one goes hungry...ever. The Happy Planet Index is "happy"!
6. The United States is doing so well, the unemployment rate is near zero.  We welcome immigrants, because we need them!
7. Women now hold 51% of all public offices.  

All of this was possible because the citizens said, "Stop!"  All because the citizens decided the United States, and her people, were worth fighting for.  They remembered, and they voted.  And, they held their politicians responsible to the promises they made.