A Heartbreaking Shift Only 12 Months Has Made in the US
One year ago, the landscape was entirely distinct. Prior to the national election, reflective residents could admit the country's serious imperfections – its inequities and imbalance – yet they could still see it as America. A democratic nation. A land where constitutional order held significance. A country headed by a dignified and decent public servant, notwithstanding his older age and declining health.
Currently, in late October 2025, countless Americans scarcely know the country we live in. Persons suspected of being illegal immigrants are detained and shoved into transport, at times blocked from fair treatment. The left side of the “people’s house” – is being torn down to build a lavish dance hall. The president is targeting his adversaries or alleged foes and insisting the justice department surrender a huge total of public funds. Soldiers with weapons are being sent across metropolitan centers with deceptive justifications. The Pentagon, renamed the Defense Ministry, has effectively liberated itself of regular press examination while it uses potentially totaling nearly $1tn from citizen taxes. Universities, law firms, media outlets are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and wealthy elites are treated like nobility.
“The United States, shortly prior to its 250th birthday as the planet's foremost free society, has tipped over the edge into authoritarianism and fascism,” Garrett Graff, stated this past summer. “In the end, swifter than I believed likely, it occurred here.”
One awakes with fresh terrors. It is hard to comprehend – and distressing to accept – how deeply lost our nation is, and how quickly it occurred.
Nevertheless, we know that the president was duly elected. Even after his highly troubling previous administration and following the warnings associated with the awareness of the conservative plan – even after the leader directly said publicly he intended to act as an autocrat just on day one – sufficient voters chose him over the other candidate.
Frightening as the present situation are, it's more daunting to realize that we have only been three-quarters of a year into this administration. Where will an additional three years of this deterioration position us? And if the three years transforms into a more extended duration, since there is not anyone to restrain this ruler from deciding that additional tenure is necessary, possibly for national security reasons?
Granted, all is not lost. There will be midterm elections the coming year that may create a new governmental control, if Democrats regain either chamber of parliament. There are elected officials who are attempting to impose some accountability, such as lawmakers who are initiating an inquiry into the attempted cash appropriation from legal authorities.
And a national vote in the next cycle could start our journey to recovery just as the prior selection placed us on this unfortunate course.
There exist millions of Americans protesting in the streets throughout communities, as they did in the past days during anti-authority protests.
Robert Reich, commented this week that “the dormant powerhouse of the nation is rising”, exactly as before following the Red Scare in that decade or during anti-war demonstrations or during the Nixon controversy.
In those instances, the listing ship finally returned to balance.
The author states he knows the signals of that awakening and sees it happening currently. As evidence, he cites the recent massive protests, the extensive, bipartisan pushback to a broadcaster's firing and the almost universal defiance by media to sign military mandates they solely cover what is sanctioned.
“The slumbering entity consistently stays dormant until certain corruption grows too toxic, a particular deed so contemptuous toward public welfare, some brutality so noisy, that the giant has no choice but to awaken.”
It’s an optimistic take, and I value Reich’s experienced view. Perhaps he will turn out correct.
Meanwhile, the crucial issues remain: will the nation ever recover? Is it possible to restore its standing in the world and its devotion to constitutional order?
Or should we recognize that the 250-year-old experiment succeeded temporarily, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?
My negative thoughts indicates that the latter is correct; that everything might be gone. My hopeful heart, however, convinces me that we must try, by any means possible.
In my case, working in journalism analysis, that’s about encouraging reporters to commit, more thoroughly, to their mission of scrutinizing authority. For some people, it could mean engaging with election efforts, or planning demonstrations, or developing approaches to safeguard electoral access.
Under twelve months back, we were in a very different place. A year from now? Or after another term? The reality is, we are uncertain. The only option is to attempt to persevere.
What’s Giving Me Encouragement Today
The contact I have during teaching with aspiring reporters, who are both idealistic and realistic, {always
