The Heartbreaking Change a Single Year Has Caused in the US
One year ago, the environment was utterly different. Before the US presidential election, considerate residents could acknowledge the country's deep flaws – its inequities and inequality – but they continued to identify it as America. A democratic nation. A land where legal governance meant something. A nation guided by a honorable and ethical official, even with his older age and declining health.
Currently, this autumn, numerous citizens scarcely know the country we live in. Persons believed to be undocumented migrants are collected and forced into vans, occasionally refused legal rights. The left side of the White House – is undergoing demolition to build a lavish ballroom. The president is harassing his political rivals or supposed enemies and requesting the justice department surrender an enormous amount of public funds. Armed military personnel are being sent across metropolitan centers with deceptive justifications. The defense headquarters, renamed the War Department, has effectively freed itself of routine media oversight as it spends potentially totaling nearly $1tn in public funds. Universities, legal practices, media outlets are submitting from leader's menaces, and rich magnates are handled as aristocracy.
“The US, just months before its 250th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the edge into autocracy and extremism,” an American historian, commented recently. “In the end, more quickly than I believed likely, it transpired here.”
Every morning starts to new horrors. And it's difficult to grasp – and agonizing to acknowledge – just how far gone we have become, and how quickly it has happened.
Nevertheless, we understand that Trump was legitimately chosen. Following his deeply disturbing initial presidency and despite the alerts associated with the knowledge of the rightwing blueprint – despite the president personally stated openly he planned to act as an autocrat just on day one – sufficient voters selected him rather than his Democratic opponent.
As terrifying as the present situation may be, it's more frightening to understand that we are just nine months into this presidential term. Where will an additional three years of this deterioration position us? And suppose that timeframe transforms into something even longer, as there is nobody to limit this ruler from deciding that additional tenure is required, maybe for defense purposes?
Granted, all is not lost. There are midterm elections in 2026 which might establish an alternate governmental control, if Democrats retake the Senate or House of the legislature. We have public servants who are trying to impose a degree of oversight, like representatives currently starting a probe into the attempted money grab from the justice department.
And a national vote three years from now could initiate our journey toward restoration precisely as the previous vote placed us on this regrettable path.
There exist countless citizens protesting in urban areas throughout communities, like they performed in the past days during anti-authority protests.
Robert Reich, commented this week that “the slumbering force of America is stirring”, just as it did following the Red Scare during the fifties or during anti-war demonstrations or in the Nixon controversy.
During those times, the unstable nation finally returned to balance.
The author states he knows the signals of that revival and sees it happening now. As evidence, he points to the large-scale demonstrations, the widespread, multi-faction opposition against a broadcaster's firing and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to agree to military mandates they only publish authorized information.
“The slumbering entity always remains inactive before specific greed grows too toxic, some action so disrespectful of societal benefit, some brutality so disruptive, that the giant is forced except to rise.”
It's a hopeful perspective, and I appreciate Reich’s experienced view. Maybe he’ll be validated.
Meanwhile, the major inquiries remain: is the US able to return to normalcy? Is it possible to restore its status in the world and its adherence to legal principles?
Or do we need to admit that the 250-year-old experiment worked for a while, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?
My pessimistic brain tells me that the latter is accurate; that everything could be lost. My hopeful heart, nevertheless, advises me that we need to strive, in whatever ways we can.
Personally, as an observer of the press, that means encouraging reporters to adhere, more thoroughly, to their purpose of overseeing leadership. For different individuals, it may be engaging with political races, or organizing rallies, or discovering methods to safeguard electoral access.
Not even one year prior, we were in a separate situation. A year from now? Or three years from now? The reality is, we don’t know. Our sole course is to strive to persevere.
What Provides Me Optimism Currently
The engagement I experience in the classroom with aspiring reporters, who are equally visionary and practical, {always
