The Tragic Change a Single Year Has Brought in America

Twelve months back, the environment was utterly separate. Before the American presidential vote, reflective Americans could acknowledge the country's serious imperfections – its unfairness and imbalance – yet they could still see it as America. A democracy. A country where the rule of law carried weight. A nation headed by a honorable and ethical official, despite his elderly years and increasing frailty.

Currently, this autumn, countless Americans barely recognize the land we live in. Persons believed to be illegal immigrants are rounded up and forced into vehicles, at times denied due process. The East Wing of the presidential residence – is being destroyed for a grotesque event space. The president is persecuting his political rivals or supposed enemies and insisting federal prosecutors hand over a massive sum of taxpayer money. Soldiers with weapons are deployed across metropolitan centers on false pretexts. The military command, rebranded the Defense Ministry, has practically freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny as it spends possibly reaching almost one trillion dollars of taxpayer money. Institutions, attorney offices, journalism organizations are buckling from leader's menaces, and rich magnates are treated like aristocracy.

“America, shortly prior to its 250^th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has crossed the edge toward dictatorship and totalitarianism,” Garrett Graff, commented in August. “Finally, faster than I believed likely, it did happen in this country.”

Every morning starts with fresh terrors. And it's difficult to grasp – and painful to realize – how deeply lost we are, and the speed at which it has happened.

However, it is known that the president was duly elected. Even after his deeply disturbing first term and following the warnings that came with the knowledge of the rightwing blueprint – despite Trump himself declared plainly he intended to rule as a tyrant only on the first day – a majority of citizens chose him instead of the other candidate.

While alarming as the current reality may be, it’s even scarier to realize that we have only been nine months into this administration. What will an additional three years of this decline leave us? And what if that timeframe transforms into an prolonged era, because there is no one to restrain this leader from deciding that a third term is required, perhaps for defense purposes?

Admittedly, there is still hope. We will have congressional elections the coming year that may bring a different political equilibrium, if Democrats recapture one or both houses of the legislature. There are elected officials who are striving to impose certain responsibility, like representatives who are initiating an inquiry into the attempted fund seizure by federal prosecutors.

And a national vote in the next cycle could begin the path toward restoration just as the prior selection set us on this regrettable path.

There exist numerous residents marching in the streets of their cities, like they performed last weekend at democracy demonstrations.

Robert Reich, stated lately that “the slumbering force of America is awakening”, exactly as before post-McCarthyism during the fifties or during the Vietnam war protests or in the seventies crisis.

On those occasions, the tilting vessel ultimately corrected itself.

He claims he understands the signs of that resurgence and observes it occurring currently. As support, he points to the recent massive protests, the broad, bipartisan pushback to a broadcaster's firing and the almost universal rejection by reporters to sign the defense department’s demands they solely cover authorized information.

“The dormant force always remains asleep until certain corruption becomes so noxious, a particular deed so disrespectful of societal benefit, some brutality so disruptive, that the giant has no choice except to rise.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I appreciate the author's seasoned opinion. Possibly he may turn out correct.

In the meantime, the crucial issues persist: will the nation return to normalcy? Can it retrieve its status in the world and its adherence to legal principles?

Or should we recognize that the historical project functioned for a period, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?

My negative thoughts suggests that the final scenario is accurate; that all may indeed be lost. My hopeful heart, though, tells me that we have to attempt, through all methods we can.

Personally, working in journalism analysis, that means pushing media professionals to commit, more completely, to their duty of overseeing leadership. For different individuals, it might involve participating in congressional campaigns, or organizing rallies, or discovering methods to safeguard electoral access.

Not even one year prior, we lived in an alternate reality. A year from now? Or after another term? The fact is, we cannot predict. All we can do is try to not give up.

What Offers Me Encouragement Today

The interaction I have in the classroom with aspiring reporters, who are equally hopeful and grounded, {always