A Tragic Transformation a Single Year Has Made in the US
One year ago, the environment was utterly distinct. Prior to the US presidential election, thoughtful citizens could admit the country's deep flaws – its injustices and disparity – yet they could still identify it as the United States. A democratic nation. A land where the rule of law meant something. A nation guided by a dignified and decent leader, despite his older age and increasing frailty.
Currently, this autumn, countless Americans scarcely know the land we live in. Persons suspected of being undocumented migrants are detained and shoved into vans, at times refused legal rights. The East Wing of the presidential residence – is being destroyed to build a lavish ballroom. The president is targeting his opponents or supposed enemies and requesting federal prosecutors hand over an enormous amount of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are dispatched to US urban areas under fabricated reasons. The Pentagon, rebranded the War Department, has – in effect – freed itself of regular press examination during its expenditure of potentially totaling almost one trillion dollars of taxpayer money. Universities, legal practices, news companies are buckling from leader's menaces, and wealthy elites are regarded as aristocracy.
“The United States, just months before its 250th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has crossed the edge into authoritarianism and extremism,” Garrett Graff, stated this past summer. “Finally, more quickly than I believed likely, it occurred here.”
Every morning starts amid recent atrocities. It is challenging to understand – and distressing to accept – how severely declined we are, and the speed at which it has happened.
Nevertheless, it is known that the leader was properly voted in. Following his deeply disturbing previous administration and even after the warnings associated with the knowledge of the conservative plan – despite the leader directly declared plainly he would rule as a tyrant solely at the start – sufficient voters elected him rather than Kamala Harris.
As terrifying as the present situation are, it’s even scarier to understand that we have only been nine months into this presidential term. Where will another 36 months of this decline find us? And suppose the three years becomes a more extended duration, because there is nobody to limit this leader from determining that another term is required, maybe for security concerns?
Admittedly, all is not lost. There are congressional elections the coming year which might bring a different balance of power, in case Democrats retake one or both houses of the legislature. There exist elected officials who are attempting to exert a degree of oversight, like representatives currently initiating an inquiry regarding the effort to fund seizure from the justice department.
And a national vote in the next cycle could initiate us down the road to recovery just as the prior selection put us on this disappointing trajectory.
There exist millions of Americans marching in urban areas of their cities, like they performed in the past days during anti-authority protests.
Robert Reich, wrote recently that “the great sleeping giant of the nation is stirring”, just as it did after the Communist witch-hunt era in that decade or during the sixties activism or in the Watergate scandal.
On those occasions, the tilting vessel finally returned to balance.
He claims he recognizes the indicators of that awakening and sees it happening now. For proof, he references the recent massive protests, the widespread, cross-party resistance to a television host's removal and the largely united refusal by journalists to agree to military mandates they only publish authorized information.
“The sleeping giant perpetually exists dormant until some venality becomes so noxious, some action so offensive of societal benefit, certain violence so loud, that it is forced other than to stir.”
It's a positive outlook, and I appreciate the author's seasoned opinion. Perhaps he will turn out correct.
In the meantime, the crucial issues endure: is the US able to ever recover? Can it reclaim its status internationally and its devotion to legal principles?
Or do we need to admit that the national endeavor succeeded temporarily, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?
My pessimistic brain tells me that the latter is true; that everything could be gone. My positive feelings, nevertheless, advises me that we must try, by any means possible.
In my case, as an observer of the press, that involves pushing media professionals to commit, more thoroughly, to their purpose of scrutinizing authority. For others, it might involve participating in congressional campaigns, or coordinating protests, or developing approaches to defend 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 not give up.
What Offers Me Encouragement Today
The engagement I experience with students with new media professionals, who are equally hopeful and grounded, {always
