A Devastating Change Just One Year Has Brought in the US
In late October 2024, the environment was utterly different. Prior to the American presidential vote, reflective residents could admit the country's significant faults – its unfairness and inequality – yet they could still perceive it as America. A democratic nation. A country where legal governance carried weight. A nation headed by a dignified and ethical public servant, even with his advanced age and increasing frailty.
These days, this autumn, numerous citizens scarcely know the land we live in. People believed to be unauthorized foreigners are collected and shoved into vehicles, occasionally blocked from fair treatment. The left side of the presidential residence – is being torn down for an obscene event space. The leader is targeting his adversaries or supposed enemies and requesting legal authorities hand over a huge total of public funds. Armed military personnel are deployed to US urban areas on false pretexts. The military command, renamed the War Department, has effectively freed itself of regular press examination as it spends possibly reaching close to a trillion USD of taxpayer money. Colleges, attorney offices, news companies are submitting under the president’s threats, and rich magnates are handled as members of the royal family.
“The US, shortly prior to its quarter-millennium anniversary as the world’s leading democracy, has fallen over the limit into authoritarianism and extremism,” Garrett Graff, stated recently. “Ultimately, more quickly than I believed likely, it did happen here.”
Every morning starts with fresh terrors. It is challenging to understand – and distressing to accept – just how far gone we are, and the rapid pace with which it unfolded.
However, we know that the president was properly voted in. Following his profoundly alarming first term and even after the cautions linked to the awareness of Project 2025 – following Trump himself said publicly he intended to rule as a tyrant just on day one – a majority of citizens selected him rather than his Democratic opponent.
Frightening as the current reality is, it’s even scarier to understand that we’re only nine months under this leadership. How will another 36 months of this deterioration position us? And suppose that period becomes an prolonged era, because there is no one to restrain this president from deciding that a third term is essential, possibly for security concerns?
Admittedly, not everything is hopeless. We will have congressional elections in 2026 that could create a new governmental control, in case Democrats regain the Senate or House of the legislature. We have public servants who are attempting to apply some accountability, for example Democratic congressmen that are initiating an inquiry into the attempted money grab from the justice department.
And a national vote in 2028 could start our journey toward restoration just as the prior selection put us on this unfortunate course.
There exist millions of Americans protesting in public spaces throughout communities, as they did recently at democracy demonstrations.
A former official, stated lately that “the slumbering force of the US is stirring”, similar to past following the Red Scare during the fifties or during the sixties activism or throughout the seventies crisis.
In those instances, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.
Reich says he recognizes the indicators of that awakening and notices it unfolding now. As evidence, he points to the large-scale demonstrations, the extensive, bipartisan pushback regarding a personality's dismissal and the largely united refusal by journalists to agree to military mandates they report only what is sanctioned.
“The dormant force consistently stays asleep before some venality grows too toxic, a particular deed so offensive of the common good, certain violence so noisy, that it is forced except to rise.”
It’s an optimistic take, and I appreciate his knowledgeable stance. Maybe he’ll prove to be right.
At the same time, the big questions persist: will the nation return to normalcy? Can it reclaim its standing globally and its adherence to constitutional order?
Or must we acknowledge that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?
My cynical mind suggests that the second option is accurate; that everything might be lost. My hopeful heart, however, advises me that we have to attempt, through all methods available.
In my case, working in journalism analysis, that involves encouraging reporters to adhere, more completely, to their duty of overseeing leadership. For some people, it may be participating in election efforts, or planning demonstrations, or developing approaches to safeguard voting rights.
Less than a year ago, we were in a separate situation. Twelve months later? Or three years from now? The fact is, we don’t know. Our sole course is try to not give up.
What’s Giving Me Encouragement Today
The interaction I experience during teaching with aspiring reporters, who are both hopeful and grounded, {always
