The Golden Future of America is included in An American Portrait 1776-1976, which was published on the occasion of the Bicentennial by Transworld Art Corporation, New York. The portfolio includes works by 33 artists, including Karel Appel, Romare Bearden, James Rosenquist, and Rufino Tamayo. It is the second print Indiana created for the Bicentennial, the first being Liberty '76.
In a 2013 interview for the Art Newspaper, Indiana stated that The Golden Future of America was one of his most political works, explaining "Can you decipher what the golden future of America is? It's the CIA, the FBI and the IRS." The work is a visual pun, at its center is a pyramid containing three eyes, each representing the letter I, and thus spelling out CIA, FBI, and IRS. The pyramid in The Golden Future of America recalls the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, with its pyramid topped by the Eye of Providence, a traditional Christian symbol representing God’s compassionate watch over humanity. Yet here it is is not a compassionate God but three government agencies watching over the country’s people. This reality is also in stark contrast to the sentiment in the print’s outer ring, which comes from a statement made by Benjamin Franklin during the United States Constitutional Convention on July 26, 1787: “In free Governments the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns.”