The problem with this 2016 brand of optimism is that it is an obfuscation. It directs our attention to shimmering ideals of liberty and away from the very real issues of rising wealth inequality, entrenched racism, environmental devastation, and the obstinate refusal of our leaders to do anything to fix these problems. Instead of interrogating the idiosyncratic American goal of forging a classless society on an economic system reliant on the existence of a labor class, or acknowledging the malignant grip of whiteness on our meritocratic mythologizing, 2016 gave us Hamilton, which laundered the images of the founding fathers, and hipsterism, which presented a more inclusive and quaint brand of whiteness.