🔗 Share this article

Twelve months back, the environment was completely different. Before the US presidential election, thoughtful Americans could recognize the country's significant faults – its inequities and disparity – but they continued to see it as the US. A democracy. A country where the rule of law carried weight. A country headed by a dignified and ethical leader, notwithstanding his older age and growing weakness.

Currently, this autumn, many of us hardly identify the country we live in. Individuals alleged as undocumented migrants are collected and shoved into vans, occasionally refused legal rights. The left side of the presidential residence – is undergoing demolition for an obscene dance hall. Donald Trump is targeting his political rivals or alleged foes and insisting legal authorities hand over an enormous amount of public funds. Armed military personnel are dispatched across metropolitan centers with deceptive justifications. The Pentagon, rebranded the War Department, has practically freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny as it spends potentially totaling almost one trillion dollars in public funds. Universities, legal practices, news companies are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and wealthy elites are regarded as aristocracy.

“The United States, only a few months ahead of its 250-year mark as the globe's top democratic nation, has tipped over the edge into autocracy and totalitarianism,” an American historian, commented recently. “In the end, swifter than I thought feasible, it did happen in this country.”

Each day begins to new horrors. And it's hard to comprehend – and painful to realize – how severely declined our nation is, and how quickly it occurred.

However, we understand that Trump was properly voted in. Following his highly troubling first term and despite the warnings associated with the understanding of the rightwing blueprint – following the president personally stated openly he planned to rule as a tyrant only on the first day – sufficient voters elected him rather than his Democratic opponent.

While alarming as the present situation is, it's more frightening to understand that we’re only several months into this presidential term. What will an additional three years of this deterioration leave us? And if the three years turns into something even longer, because there is nobody to stop this leader from deciding that a third term is necessary, maybe for defense purposes?

Granted, not everything is hopeless. There are congressional elections in 2026 that could create a new political equilibrium, if Democrats regain one or both houses of parliament. We have public servants who are attempting to apply some accountability, such as Democratic congressmen currently starting a probe regarding the effort to money grab from legal authorities.

And a presidential election three years from now could initiate us down the road to recovery precisely as the prior selection placed us on this disappointing trajectory.

There exist millions of Americans marching in urban areas across municipalities, as they did recently during anti-authority protests.

An ex-cabinet member, wrote recently that “the great sleeping giant of America is awakening”, exactly as before after the Communist witch-hunt era in that decade or amid the sixties activism or throughout the Nixon controversy.

During those times, the tilting vessel eventually was righted.

Reich says he understands the signals of that awakening and notices it unfolding at present. For proof, he cites the widespread marches, the widespread, multi-faction opposition regarding a television host's removal and the near-unanimous defiance by media to accept government requirements they only publish approved content.

“The slumbering entity always remains inactive before certain corruption becomes so noxious, a particular deed so contemptuous toward public welfare, certain violence so disruptive, that the giant is forced but to awaken.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I respect the author's seasoned opinion. Perhaps he will be validated.

At the same time, the big questions persist: can America ever recover? Can it reclaim its position in the world and its commitment to legal principles?

Or do we need to admit that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?

My negative thoughts indicates that the final scenario is true; that all may indeed be lost. My optimistic spirit, however, convinces me that we must try, through all methods possible.

Personally, working in journalism analysis, that involves encouraging reporters to commit, more completely, to their mission of scrutinizing authority. For different individuals, it might involve participating in election efforts, or organizing rallies, or finding ways to defend electoral access.

Less than a year ago, we lived in a separate situation. In the future? Or in several years? The reality is, we cannot predict. Our sole course is try to not give up.

What Offers Me Optimism Currently

The contact I encounter in the classroom with new media professionals, that are simultaneously hopeful and practical, {always