The Tragic Change a Single Year Has Caused in America
Twelve months back, the situation was utterly different. Before the American presidential vote, reflective citizens could acknowledge the country's deep flaws – its inequities and disparity – yet they still could see it as America. A democratic nation. A country where legal governance held significance. A state led by a dignified and decent public servant, despite his older age and increasing frailty.
Currently, this autumn, many of us scarcely know the land we live in. People suspected of being undocumented migrants are collected and shoved into vehicles, occasionally blocked from fair treatment. The left side of the White House – is being destroyed for an obscene event space. The leader is harassing his opponents or perceived antagonists and insisting legal authorities surrender an enormous amount of citizen dollars. Soldiers with weapons are being sent into American cities with deceptive justifications. The military command, relabeled the War Department, has effectively rid itself of routine media oversight during its expenditure of what could amount to close to a trillion USD from citizen taxes. Universities, attorney offices, news companies are yielding due to presidential intimidation, and wealthy elites are regarded as nobility.
“The United States, only a few months ahead of its 250th birthday as the globe's top democratic nation, has crossed the brink into autocracy and extremism,” Garrett Graff, commented recently. “Finally, swifter than I believed likely, it did happen here.”
One awakes amid recent atrocities. And it is challenging to understand – and agonizing to acknowledge – how severely declined our nation is, and the speed at which it unfolded.
Yet, we understand that Trump was legitimately chosen. Following his highly troubling previous administration and despite the cautions linked to the awareness of the conservative plan – following Trump himself declared plainly he would act as an autocrat solely at the start – enough Americans elected him rather than Kamala Harris.
Frightening as the current reality is, it's more daunting to realize that we are just several months under this leadership. Where will three more years of this decline position us? And suppose that timeframe transforms into an prolonged era, because there is nobody to limit this leader from deciding that additional tenure is required, maybe for national security reasons?
Admittedly, there is still hope. There are midterm elections next year that could establish an alternate balance of power, if Democrats retake one or both houses of the legislature. There are government representatives who are striving to impose some accountability, such as representatives currently starting a probe into the attempted money grab from the justice department.
And a presidential election in the next cycle could start the path to recovery precisely as the previous vote set us on this unfortunate course.
We see numerous residents marching in public spaces of their cities, similar to recent recently during anti-authority protests.
A former official, wrote recently that “the great sleeping giant of the nation is stirring”, exactly as before after the Communist witch-hunt era in the 1950s or throughout the Vietnam war protests or during the Nixon controversy.
On those occasions, the listing ship eventually was righted.
The author states he knows the indicators of that awakening and observes it occurring at present. As evidence, he points to the widespread marches, the widespread, cross-party resistance to a personality's dismissal and the near-unanimous rejection by reporters to agree to military mandates they solely cover approved content.
“The sleeping giant consistently stays dormant until certain corruption grows too toxic, an specific act so contemptuous of the common good, certain violence so loud, that he is forced except to rise.”
It's a positive outlook, and I value the author's seasoned opinion. Maybe he’ll be validated.
At the same time, the crucial issues remain: will the nation regain its footing? Can it reclaim its status internationally and its devotion to the rule of law?
Or should we recognize that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?
My pessimistic brain tells me that the final scenario is true; that everything might be lost. My positive feelings, though, tells me that we have to attempt, through all methods we can.
Personally, as an observer of the press, that means pushing media professionals to commit, more fully, to their purpose of overseeing leadership. For different individuals, it could mean engaging with congressional campaigns, or coordinating protests, or finding ways to defend electoral access.
Not even one year prior, we lived in a separate situation. Twelve months later? Or in several years? The truth is, we are uncertain. The only option is to attempt to not give up.
What Provides Me Encouragement Today
The interaction I have with students with new media professionals, that are simultaneously hopeful and realistic, {always
