A Heartbreaking Change a Single Year Has Brought in America
Twelve months back, the situation was completely different. Prior to the US presidential election, thoughtful Americans could acknowledge the country's deep flaws – its inequities and inequality – but they still could see it as the US. A democratic nation. A land where constitutional order held significance. A country headed by a dignified and decent leader, notwithstanding his advanced age and increasing frailty.
These days, this autumn, many of us hardly identify the nation we live in. Persons believed to be undocumented migrants are collected and shoved into vehicles, sometimes denied due process. The left side of the “people’s house” – is being torn down for an obscene ballroom. The leader is harassing his adversaries or alleged foes and demanding federal prosecutors transfer a massive sum of citizen dollars. Uniformed troops are dispatched into American cities under fabricated reasons. The Pentagon, relabeled the Department of War, has effectively rid itself of regular press examination during its expenditure of possibly reaching nearly $1tn from citizen taxes. Universities, attorney offices, journalism organizations are yielding due to presidential intimidation, and rich magnates are treated like nobility.
“The US, only a few months ahead of its 250th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has crossed the edge into authoritarianism and totalitarianism,” an American historian, stated this past summer. “In the end, faster than I imagined possible, it occurred in this country.”
Each day begins amid recent atrocities. And it's difficult to grasp – and painful to realize – how severely declined we are, and the rapid pace with which it unfolded.
However, it is known that the leader was duly elected. Even after his highly troubling initial presidency and even after the cautions that came with the knowledge of the conservative plan – even after the president personally stated openly he would be a dictator only on the first day – a majority of citizens elected him over the other candidate.
While alarming as today's circumstances may be, it’s even scarier to understand that we are just three-quarters of a year under this leadership. What will another 36 months of this decline find us? And if that timeframe becomes a more extended duration, since there is not anyone to restrain this president from opting that another term is necessary, possibly for defense purposes?
Admittedly, all is not lost. There are midterm elections in 2026 which might establish an alternate political equilibrium, in case Democrats retake one or both houses of the legislature. There are government representatives who are striving to apply certain responsibility, like Democratic congressmen currently initiating an inquiry regarding the effort to money grab from the justice department.
And a national vote in the next cycle could start us down the road to healing just as the prior selection set us on this disappointing trajectory.
There exist numerous residents marching in public spaces across municipalities, similar to recent in the past days during anti-authority protests.
A former official, wrote recently that “the slumbering force of the nation is awakening”, similar to past after the Communist witch-hunt era in that decade or during the sixties activism or in the Watergate scandal.
During those times, the unstable nation finally returned to balance.
He claims he knows the signals of that revival and observes it occurring currently. For proof, he cites the widespread marches, the extensive, multi-faction opposition to a television host's removal and the almost universal refusal by journalists to agree to government requirements they solely cover what is sanctioned.
“The slumbering entity consistently stays asleep before specific greed turns extremely harmful, a particular deed so disrespectful of the common good, specific cruelty so noisy, that the giant is forced but to awaken.”
It’s an optimistic take, and I respect Reich’s experienced view. Possibly he may be validated.
In the meantime, the major inquiries remain: will the nation return to normalcy? Can it retrieve its standing internationally and its commitment to legal principles?
Or do we need to admit that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?
My pessimistic brain indicates that the final scenario is correct; that everything could be lost. My optimistic spirit, though, convinces me that we need to strive, in whatever ways we can.
For me, working in journalism analysis, that’s about encouraging reporters to commit, more thoroughly, to their mission of scrutinizing authority. For others, it may be engaging with political races, or coordinating protests, or discovering methods to protect ballot privileges.
Under twelve months back, we existed in an alternate reality. In the future? Or after another term? The truth is, we are uncertain. All we can do is try to continue fighting.
What’s Giving Me Encouragement Today
The interaction I experience in the classroom with aspiring reporters, who are equally visionary and realistic, {always
