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Absolutely. There are always ups and downs of course, and the last decade perhaps hasn't improved as fast as previous, but a better question to look at is is, has society improved from say the 70's. And the answer I think is (to me!) clearly yes. And part of that is due to progressive influences. Those influences in turn may push too far and alienate people and cause a reaction (just how the progressive movement itself was welded together), some changes are rolled back, some stick, but all in all, humanities story is onwards and upwards.
My kids have it better than I did by a significant margin. This world is significantly less violent and much wealthier than the one I was born into. My kids have and had opportunities I could never have dreamed of. There are still wars and atrocities of course, and there always will be.
My perspective as an outsider in the US, is that things are not nearly as bad as being made out to be by either side. And that stepping away from media and social media, it is quite possible for a middle class Brit to live among both Red tribe rural Trump voters while married to a black urban liberal woman with no problems whatsoever, and also for the same middle class white Brit to be in the middle of the ghetto fixing a fence in a straw hat and khakis and attract nothing but curiosity.
My wife's cousin brought her kids around last weekend, and I was teaching them cricket and showing them my video game collection and I invited my white Republican neighbor over for the bbq, and he was teaching them about hunting. Overall this country is doing just fine in my opinion.
Now many parts do have real problems, rural Rust belt white communities and urban black ones are very similar in many ways (both my wife and J.D. Vance were raised by their grandmothers, in and around poverty and drug use). But overall, yeah I am pretty optimistic about both the world and the USA itself. You're a positive resilient nation with an exuberance and enthusiasm that is somewhat enchanting to this cynical Brit at least. You have problems, but you are great problem solvers and both Red and Blue Tribers can get along, with the moderate middle of each pushing back against the excesses of either side.
This happens to be precisely the thing that is no longer true.
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