🔗 Share this article

Twelve months back, the environment was completely different. Before the US presidential election, considerate residents could acknowledge America's serious imperfections – its injustices and disparity – yet they still could perceive it as the United States. A free society. A land where the rule of law meant something. A country guided by a respectable and ethical official, even with his elderly years and declining health.

Currently, this autumn, numerous citizens barely recognize the country we reside in. Persons alleged as illegal immigrants are detained and pushed into vans, occasionally denied due process. The eastern section of the presidential residence – is being destroyed for an obscene ballroom. Donald Trump is harassing his political rivals or alleged foes and requesting federal prosecutors hand over a massive sum of taxpayer money. Soldiers with weapons are dispatched across metropolitan centers on false pretexts. The Pentagon, rebranded the Department of War, has practically freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny while it uses possibly reaching close to a trillion USD in public funds. Institutions, legal practices, media outlets are yielding under the president’s threats, 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 crossed the edge toward dictatorship and fascism,” a noted author, commented in August. “Finally, faster than I thought feasible, it did happen here.”

Each day begins to new horrors. And it's difficult to grasp – and agonizing to acknowledge – how severely declined our nation is, and how quickly it unfolded.

However, it is known that Trump was legitimately chosen. Despite his profoundly alarming previous administration and following the cautions that came with the awareness of the rightwing blueprint – even after the president personally stated openly he intended to be a dictator only on the first day – enough Americans elected him rather than Kamala Harris.

As terrifying as today's circumstances is, it's more daunting to recognize that we are just three-quarters of a year into this presidential term. How will another 36 months of this downfall find us? And suppose that timeframe turns into a more extended duration, as there is nobody to stop this leader from determining that additional tenure is essential, maybe for security concerns?

Admittedly, there is still hope. There will be congressional elections next year that could bring a different political equilibrium, in case Democrats retake either chamber of Congress. There are government representatives who are attempting to impose some accountability, such as Democratic congressmen who are launching an investigation into the attempted cash appropriation by federal prosecutors.

And a leadership election in the next cycle could begin us down the road to healing exactly as the prior selection put us on this regrettable path.

There exist countless citizens demonstrating in urban areas across municipalities, as they did recently at democracy demonstrations.

An ex-cabinet member, stated lately that “the slumbering force of America is awakening”, exactly as before following the Red Scare during the fifties or throughout anti-war demonstrations or during the Nixon controversy.

During those times, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.

The author states he knows the signals of that revival and notices it unfolding currently. As support, he references the widespread marches, the extensive, bipartisan pushback against a personality's dismissal and the near-unanimous refusal by journalists to agree to the defense department’s demands they solely cover approved content.

“The sleeping giant perpetually exists dormant till specific greed becomes so noxious, some action so offensive toward public welfare, certain violence so loud, that the giant has no choice but to awaken.”

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

In the meantime, the major inquiries endure: is the US able to return to normalcy? Can it reclaim its position in the world and its adherence to constitutional order?

Or must we acknowledge that the historical project functioned for a period, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?

My cynical mind indicates that the final scenario is correct; that everything might be finished. My hopeful heart, however, tells me that we need to strive, through all methods possible.

For me, as a media critic, that means urging journalists to adhere, more fully, to their mission of scrutinizing authority. For different individuals, it may be working on political races, or planning demonstrations, or discovering methods to protect electoral access.

Less than a year ago, we existed in a separate situation. In the future? Or in several years? The truth is, we don’t know. Our sole course is to strive to continue fighting.

What Provides Me Encouragement Today

The interaction I experience in the classroom with aspiring reporters, who are equally visionary and realistic, {always