Editor's note: Glenn Beck is on CNN Headline News nightly at 7 and 9 ET and also is host of a conservative national radio talk show.



Glenn Beck says the decisions Washington makes today could have fateful consequences for the future.



NEW YORK (CNN) -- Dear America:



Happy 300th Birthday!



It's 2076 and we've just invented the time-fax machine. (Actually, "we" didn't invent the time-fax machine, the State did -- they pretty much control everything now.)



I'm faxing this back to you in 2008 because that seems to be the year we had the best chance to reverse our course and get back to the vision laid out by our founding fathers -- a vision that didn't include the government being in the insurance business.



I don't have a lot of time (the State only gives us one 30-minute break per day) so let me give you some advice: Stop worrying so much about who runs the country and start worrying about who runs your towns, your states, and your Congress.



I know you're all distracted by the presidential election, but for all the money and time poured into it, the truth is that you're choosing between two roads that will lead you to the same destination. Sure, one may be the Autobahn and the other a two-lane highway, but you'll end up at the same place either way.



Decades of Republicans and Democrats alike have all chipped in to lead you to where you are today. Believing that one person, from either party, can change that by themselves is a big mistake.



Presidents are like captains of a large ship: They can map out a course and shout out orders, but without the trust and hard work of the people who actually move the rudders, their commands mean nothing.



In retrospect, the lack of trust and confidence you now have in your leaders was really the root cause of everything that's happened since. While our founding fathers designed a brilliant system of checks and balances, separation of powers and democratic elections, trust was the one thing they couldn't mandate in the Constitution.



Unfortunately, it's also the foundation upon which everything else is built and once it began to erode, our whole house inevitably began to crumble.



Looking back now, it's pretty obvious that our trust in government declined at about the same rate as our partisanship increased. People became so concerned about getting their party into power at any cost that the truth didn't even seem to matter anymore.



That's probably one of the reasons why George Washington hated the idea of political parties so much. Here's what he said about them in his 1796 farewell speech:



"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty."



I know that George had a habit for using big words, so allow me to translate into 2008 English: Political parties that put their own success over that of the country's will be the death of America.



If you don't believe him yet, just wait a few more years...you're about to see firsthand how right he was. After all, if power corrupts, then the kind of absolute power gained by political parties (and feared by Washington) corrupts absolutely.



The best advice I can give you is to stop thinking in terms of left and right and start thinking in terms of right and wrong. Demand the best leaders possible, and then demand the best out of them.



Believe me, when you see what's coming your
Why did people lose trust in government? What did the people lose trust in? What did uncontrolled partisanship cause? What does Beck say about America in 2076? What caused people to lose trust in the government? What did Glenn Beck say?
partisanship increased. in your leaders trust in government declined we've just invented the time-fax machine. partisanship increased. the decisions Washington makes today could have fateful consequences for the future.
question: Why did people lose trust in government?, answer: partisanship increased. | question: What did the people lose trust in?, answer: in your leaders | question: What did uncontrolled partisanship cause?, answer: trust in government declined | question: What does Beck say about America in 2076?, answer: we've just invented the time-fax machine. | question: What caused people to lose trust in the government?, answer: partisanship increased. | question: What did Glenn Beck say?, answer: the decisions Washington makes today could have fateful consequences for the future.