One year ago, the environment was utterly different. Prior to the US presidential election, reflective citizens could acknowledge the country's deep flaws – its inequities and disparity – yet they continued to identify it as America. A democratic nation. A country where legal governance carried weight. A nation headed by a respectable and decent official, even with his advanced age and declining health.
Nowadays, this autumn, countless Americans barely recognize the land we reside in. People suspected of being unauthorized foreigners are detained and pushed into transport, sometimes blocked from fair treatment. The left side of the White House – is being destroyed for a grotesque dance hall. The leader is persecuting his adversaries or perceived antagonists and demanding legal authorities hand over a huge total of citizen dollars. Armed military personnel are dispatched to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The Pentagon, relabeled the Defense Ministry, has effectively freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny during its expenditure of potentially totaling close to a trillion USD of taxpayer money. Colleges, law firms, journalism organizations are buckling from leader's menaces, and billionaires are regarded as members of the royal family.
“The US, just months before its quarter-millennium anniversary as the planet's foremost free society, has tipped over the limit toward dictatorship and extremism,” an American historian, stated in August. “Finally, swifter than I believed likely, it did happen here.”
One awakes with fresh terrors. It is difficult to grasp – and distressing to accept – how severely declined we have become, and the speed at which it occurred.
However, we know that the president was duly elected. Following his deeply disturbing first term and following the cautions linked to the awareness of Project 2025 – even after the leader directly stated openly he intended to act as an autocrat solely at the start – a majority of citizens selected him instead of his Democratic opponent.
As terrifying as the present situation is, it’s even scarier to understand that we’re only nine months into this presidential term. What will an additional three years of this deterioration position us? And if that period transforms into an prolonged era, since there is no one to stop this leader from opting that additional tenure is necessary, perhaps for defense purposes?
Certainly, there is still hope. We will have legislative votes the coming year that may create a new balance of power, should Democrats regain one or both houses of the legislature. We have elected officials who are trying to exert some accountability, for example representatives currently initiating an inquiry regarding the effort to fund seizure from the justice department.
And a national vote three years from now could initiate our journey to healing just as last year’s election put us on this disappointing trajectory.
There exist millions of Americans demonstrating in urban areas throughout communities, as they did recently at democracy demonstrations.
Robert Reich, wrote recently that “the great sleeping giant of the US is rising”, just as it did following the Red Scare in that decade or throughout anti-war demonstrations or during the seventies crisis.
In those instances, the tilting vessel finally returned to balance.
He claims he knows the indicators of that awakening and sees it happening now. As evidence, he cites the recent massive protests, the broad, cross-party resistance against a personality's dismissal and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to sign government requirements they report only what is sanctioned.
“The slumbering entity consistently stays inactive till certain corruption becomes so noxious, some action so contemptuous of the common good, certain violence so loud, that the giant is forced but to awaken.”
It’s an optimistic take, and I value his knowledgeable stance. Perhaps he will turn out correct.
Meanwhile, the big questions remain: can America return to normalcy? Can it reclaim its standing in the world and its commitment to constitutional order?
Or should we recognize that the historical project functioned for a period, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?
My negative thoughts suggests that the final scenario is true; that all may indeed be finished. My positive feelings, though, tells me that we need to strive, in whatever ways possible.
For me, as a media critic, that means urging journalists to live up, more fully, to their duty of overseeing leadership. For different individuals, it could mean working on congressional campaigns, or organizing rallies, or developing approaches to safeguard electoral access.
Less than a year ago, we lived in a separate situation. A year from now? Or in several years? The reality is, we don’t know. The only option is to strive to not give up.
What Offers Me Encouragement Today
The engagement I have with students with new media professionals, who are equally visionary and practical, {always
