First: please understand where I'm coming from. I'm not telling you any of this to be patronizing, and I by no means wish to lord my experiences over yours. But, a lot of what you've said rings true to (teenage) me. I used to be a bitter, cynical teenager; I used to feel trapped in my circumstances, overworked, under appreciated. I used to be angry and lonely and without a place in the world or a foreseeable future; I had no friends for the longest time (and fell in with some unfortunate people) - I understand.

All teenagers feel that way at some point. Even the ones you think have it all together, they're as confused and miserable as you are sometimes. Some have it just as bad as you. Some have it worse. Does that mean your experiences don't count? No! It simply means that your life now isn't really your life. You're just now starting to become who you are. It's awful now, I don't doubt that. But when people who've been there, people who care to offer their help to you in kind words, when those people tell you "it really does get better", don't dismiss them out of hand. If you're too sad right now to even consider hope for a better future, don't think of it as a definite, but as a possibility. Think of it as "it CAN get better."

You seem angry with the world. Good! Be angry enough to do something about your awful life. See everything you can't stand around you as if it's a physical box, closing you in. Now imagine everything you want life to be on the outside. Be furious enough, and hopeful enough, to punch your way out into the real world. Someone in this thread suggested you think about your passions, and you mentioned your hobbies; that's not what they meant! Your passions aren't your distractions, or things you enjoy doing in the free time you have. They're what you strive for, what make your life worthwhile. Think of your life's goal: is there a career you want? Do you want to find love? Wealth? Peace with yourself? Do you want to fight for a cause? To help people? To save a species of animal, or a habitat, or provide fresh water to people in need? Do you want to help people like you get out of awful situations? You aren't satisfied with the government: do you want to fight for governmental reform? To get money out of politics? (Assuming you're American) To abolish the unfair two-party system and allow for fairer elections?

Choose what you want to make of your life, and make it happen. Then, instead of lamenting how things get worse every day, you'll have something to strive for. You'll be honestly able to say to yourself that every day is one day closer to your goal.

I won't lie to you, the world at large is a rough place, too. You think you're busy now, and when you have to fully support yourself, it's going to be a whole lot harder for a while. It's going to be a pain to get there, too. You're going to have to go through a lot more terrible stuff before you get what you want ("it's always darkest before the dawn" is a cliche for a reason)... But you'll be freer. I won't say free - freedom, like happiness, is a process, not a destination. But you won't be constrained by anything you hate now, not if you don't let it. Not if you take a stand for yourself and fight. You aren't your worst enemy; your apathy and cynicism are. It's a catch-22: what you manifest is what begets you. If you think the world is a terrible place, you're only going to find exactly what you expect.

Now, I'm not you. I can't possibly understand how you feel, personally. No one but you will ever really know. ... You still have to let people try to help. If you shut yourself off to possibilities, to encouragement, to even the most basic words of support from strangers over the internet... well, I'm not going to mince words: you've doomed yourself. Some people make it; some don't. Don't resign yourself to the second category; you're stronger than that. You're damn right that this life is the only thing you're guaranteed. Don't pass it up.

And, a word of advice: nothing is inherently good, and nothing is inherently evil. Liberals are not Democrats, and conservatives are not Republicans. Christianity is not the only religion, and is not the model for religions. Just because institutional Christianity is used as a political tool by certain right-wingers, or used as a reason for hatred, it doesn't make the teachings immoral. Morality is not the same as religion, no. But there have been religious leaders that fought for good (MLK? Mother Teresa? The Dalai Lama?), and people who have done horrible things with no basis in their religious faith. It's okay to be an atheist in the strictest sense (not believing in any Gods), but it's hurtful and close minded to say you'll never accept a part of someone else that isn't hurting someone, no matter what it is. Organized religion is not personal faith in God. You say that you can't stand either side of the political spectrum - assuming you don't mean Democrats and Republicans, which are two sides of a very similar coin - you're being hypocritical. Devout, organized atheism is religious extremism. The Amazing Atheist and Richard Dawkins are religious leaders; they are promoting their (lack of) faith as the One Truth. Be an atheist, there's no shame in it. If people say hateful things to you for it, they're in the wrong. But don't believe for a second that it makes you more enlightened, more intellectual, more right than a religious person's faith. You are no better than Christians, or Muslims, or Jews, or Pagans, or Buddhists, or anything else, solely based on what you do or do not believe. They should accept you, but you should accept them - majority or minority. If a woman told you that she'd never truly accept you because men are oppressors, though it's not personally your fault women are at a disadvantage in society, would you be hurt? Assuming you're straight: if a gay person, or a bisexual one, told you your sexuality was wrong, though it's something out of your power, something that makes you feel right in yourself... wouldn't that bother you? Respect flows both ways.