The Devastating Change a Single Year Has Caused in America
One year ago, the situation was utterly separate. Ahead of the national election, reflective residents could recognize the country's significant faults – its injustices and disparity – yet they could still identify it as the US. A democracy. A country where the rule of law carried weight. A country led by a respectable and ethical leader, even with his elderly years and declining health.
Currently, this autumn, numerous citizens scarcely know the country we live in. Individuals believed to be unauthorized foreigners are rounded up and shoved into transport, at times blocked from fair treatment. The left side of the presidential residence – is being destroyed to build a lavish ballroom. The president is persecuting his political rivals or alleged foes and demanding federal prosecutors transfer a massive sum of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are dispatched to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The defense headquarters, renamed the War Department, has – in effect – rid itself of routine media oversight during its expenditure of what could amount to nearly $1tn from citizen taxes. Institutions, attorney offices, media outlets are buckling under the president’s threats, and rich magnates are treated like members of the royal family.
“The United States, just months before its 250th birthday as the planet's foremost free society, has crossed the edge toward dictatorship and extremism,” a noted author, wrote this past summer. “In the end, swifter than I thought feasible, it occurred here.”
Every morning starts to new horrors. And it's hard to comprehend – and painful to realize – how deeply lost we have become, and the rapid pace with which it unfolded.
However, we understand that the leader was duly elected. Following his highly troubling initial presidency and despite the alerts linked to the understanding of the conservative plan – even after the leader directly stated openly he would be a dictator only on the first day – a majority of citizens chose him instead of Kamala Harris.
As terrifying as the present situation is, it’s even scarier to recognize that we are just several months into this presidential term. Where will three more years of this deterioration find us? And if the three years transforms into a more extended duration, because there is nobody to stop this leader from determining that additional tenure is required, possibly for security concerns?
Certainly, there is still hope. We will have midterm elections in 2026 which might bring a different governmental control, should Democrats retake one or both houses of Congress. There are elected officials who are attempting to apply a degree of oversight, for example Democratic congressmen that are initiating an inquiry regarding the effort to money grab by federal prosecutors.
And a presidential election in 2028 could begin us down the road to healing precisely as the prior selection placed us on this regrettable path.
We see countless citizens demonstrating in public spaces throughout communities, like they performed recently at democracy demonstrations.
An ex-cabinet member, stated lately that “the dormant powerhouse of America is rising”, similar to past after the Communist witch-hunt era in the 1950s or during the Vietnam war protests or in the Nixon controversy.
On those occasions, the tilting vessel ultimately corrected itself.
He claims he understands the signals of that revival and observes it occurring now. As support, he references the widespread marches, the broad, multi-faction opposition to a broadcaster's firing and the largely united defiance by media to accept the defense department’s demands they only publish approved content.
“The slumbering entity always remains asleep till some venality becomes so noxious, a particular deed so contemptuous of the common good, certain violence so noisy, that it has no choice but to awaken.”
It's a hopeful perspective, and I respect Reich’s experienced view. Possibly he may prove to be right.
In the meantime, the major inquiries endure: can America ever recover? Is it possible to restore its position in the world and its commitment to constitutional order?
Or should we recognize that the historical project worked for a while, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?
My cynical mind suggests that the latter is correct; that everything might be finished. My optimistic spirit, though, convinces me that we need to strive, in whatever ways we can.
For me, as a media critic, that’s about encouraging reporters to commit, more thoroughly, to their duty of scrutinizing authority. For different individuals, it might involve engaging with political races, or planning demonstrations, or discovering methods to safeguard ballot privileges.
Under twelve months back, we were in an alternate reality. In the future? Or after another term? The reality is, we cannot predict. All we can do is try to continue fighting.
What’s Giving Me Hope Now
The interaction I encounter with students with young journalists, who are both visionary and practical, {always
