The Tragic Change a Single Year Has Brought in the US

One year ago, the situation was entirely different. Before the US presidential election, thoughtful citizens could admit America's significant faults – its unfairness and imbalance – but they could still see it as the US. A democratic nation. A place where constitutional order carried weight. A country led by a dignified and upright official, despite his older age and increasing frailty.

These days, this autumn, countless Americans hardly identify the land we reside in. Persons alleged as illegal immigrants are collected and pushed into vans, sometimes blocked from fair treatment. The East Wing of the “people’s house” – is undergoing demolition for a grotesque dance hall. The leader is harassing his opponents or alleged foes and requesting federal prosecutors hand over a huge total of taxpayer money. Soldiers with weapons are deployed to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The Pentagon, renamed the Defense Ministry, has – in effect – liberated itself of routine media oversight during its expenditure of possibly reaching almost one trillion dollars of taxpayer money. Colleges, attorney offices, journalism organizations are yielding from leader's menaces, and wealthy elites are regarded as nobility.

“The United States, only a few months ahead of its 250-year mark as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the brink into authoritarianism and fascism,” Garrett Graff, wrote recently. “Finally, swifter than I believed likely, it did happen in America.”

Each day begins to new horrors. And it's hard to comprehend – and distressing to accept – how deeply lost we have become, and the speed at which it occurred.

However, we understand that the president was duly elected. Even after his deeply disturbing initial presidency and despite the cautions linked to the awareness of Project 2025 – even after the leader directly said publicly he intended to act as an autocrat solely at the start – sufficient voters elected him instead of Kamala Harris.

While alarming as the current reality is, it’s even scarier to realize that we are just several months under this leadership. Where will another 36 months of this downfall find us? And what if that timeframe transforms into a more extended duration, because there is no one to stop this leader from deciding that a third term is necessary, possibly for national security reasons?

Certainly, there is still hope. We will have congressional elections the coming year that may create a new political equilibrium, in case Democrats regain one or both houses of Congress. We have elected officials who are striving to apply certain responsibility, for example Democratic congressmen currently initiating an inquiry regarding the effort to cash appropriation from legal authorities.

And a national vote in 2028 could initiate us down the road to recovery just as the prior selection placed us on this regrettable path.

There are millions of Americans demonstrating in urban areas of their cities, like they performed last weekend at democracy demonstrations.

A former official, commented this week that “the slumbering force of the US is awakening”, exactly as before following the Red Scare in the 1950s or amid the sixties activism or throughout the seventies crisis.

During those times, the unstable nation eventually was righted.

He claims he knows the indicators of that revival and observes it occurring currently. For proof, he references the widespread marches, the widespread, cross-party resistance regarding a personality's dismissal and the near-unanimous defiance by media to sign government requirements they solely cover authorized information.

“The dormant force consistently stays inactive before some venality becomes so noxious, a particular deed so offensive of societal benefit, specific cruelty so disruptive, that he is compelled other than to stir.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I appreciate his knowledgeable stance. Possibly he may turn out correct.

Meanwhile, the crucial issues remain: can America regain its footing? Can it retrieve its status globally and its adherence to the rule of law?

Or must we acknowledge that the national endeavor functioned for a period, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?

My cynical mind suggests that the second option is true; that everything could be lost. My positive feelings, nevertheless, convinces me that we need to strive, in whatever ways possible.

Personally, as an observer of the press, that involves urging journalists to commit, more thoroughly, to their mission of scrutinizing authority. For different individuals, it may be participating in congressional campaigns, or organizing rallies, or developing approaches to defend electoral access.

Not even one year prior, we lived in a separate situation. Twelve months later? Or in several years? The truth is, we don’t know. All we can do is to attempt to persevere.

What Offers Me Encouragement Today

The engagement I encounter with students with aspiring reporters, who are equally hopeful and grounded, {always