The Devastating Change Only 12 Months Has Made in America
In late October 2024, the situation was utterly different. Ahead of the US presidential election, considerate citizens could acknowledge America's serious imperfections – its injustices and inequality – yet they still could perceive it as America. A democratic nation. A place where legal governance meant something. A country led by a dignified and upright official, even with his older age and declining health.
Nowadays, this autumn, countless Americans barely recognize the land we reside in. Individuals believed to be unauthorized foreigners are rounded up and shoved into vehicles, sometimes blocked from fair treatment. The eastern section of the White House – is being destroyed for an obscene dance hall. The leader is targeting his political rivals or supposed enemies and requesting the justice department surrender an enormous amount of citizen dollars. Uniformed troops are deployed to US urban areas on false pretexts. The military command, relabeled the War Department, has practically rid itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny as it spends what could amount to close to a trillion USD in public funds. Universities, law firms, journalism organizations are yielding under the president’s threats, and wealthy elites are treated like members of the royal family.
“America, shortly prior to its 250th birthday as the planet's foremost free society, has crossed the brink toward dictatorship and fascism,” an American historian, commented this past summer. “Finally, more quickly than I thought feasible, it occurred in this country.”
Each day begins with fresh terrors. It is difficult to grasp – and agonizing to acknowledge – how deeply lost our nation is, and the rapid pace with which it occurred.
Nevertheless, we know that the leader was duly elected. Even after his highly troubling first term and despite the alerts associated with the awareness of the rightwing blueprint – even after Trump himself said publicly he planned to be a dictator solely at the start – a majority of citizens elected him over Kamala Harris.
While alarming as the present situation are, it's more daunting to understand that we have only been three-quarters of a year into this presidential term. How will three more years of this deterioration position us? And suppose the three years becomes an prolonged era, because there is nobody to restrain this leader from determining that another term is necessary, possibly for security concerns?
Admittedly, all is not lost. There are legislative votes in 2026 that could create a new governmental control, in case Democrats recapture one or both houses of Congress. We have government representatives who are attempting to impose some accountability, such as representatives that are initiating an inquiry concerning the try to fund seizure from the justice department.
And a national vote in the next cycle could begin our journey to healing precisely as the previous vote put us on this regrettable path.
There are millions of Americans marching in public spaces throughout communities, as they did recently in the No Kings rallies.
An ex-cabinet member, wrote recently that “the slumbering force of the nation is awakening”, just as it did post-McCarthyism in the 1950s or amid the Vietnam war protests or during the Watergate scandal.
On those occasions, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.
The author states he understands the indicators of that awakening and notices it unfolding at present. As support, he points to the recent massive protests, the widespread, cross-party resistance against a broadcaster's firing and the largely united refusal by journalists to agree to government requirements they report only authorized information.
“The slumbering entity consistently stays inactive till certain corruption becomes so noxious, some action so offensive of societal benefit, certain violence so disruptive, that the giant is forced except to rise.”
It’s an optimistic take, and I value his knowledgeable stance. Maybe he’ll be validated.
Meanwhile, the major inquiries persist: is the US able to return to normalcy? Can it reclaim its status in the world and its adherence to legal principles?
Or do we need to admit that the historical project worked for a while, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?
My cynical mind indicates that the second option is correct; that everything might be finished. My positive feelings, however, convinces me that we must try, through all methods possible.
For me, as an observer of the press, that’s about urging journalists to adhere, more fully, to their mission of holding power to account. For some people, it could mean working on congressional campaigns, or coordinating protests, or discovering methods to safeguard voting rights.
Not even one year prior, we lived in a very different place. Twelve months later? Or after another term? The fact is, we are uncertain. All we can do is to attempt to not give up.
What Provides Me Optimism Currently
The contact I encounter in the classroom with aspiring reporters, who are equally visionary and practical, {always
