A Heartbreaking Change a Single Year Has Caused in the US
One year ago, the landscape was entirely separate. Ahead of the US presidential election, reflective Americans could acknowledge the country's deep flaws – its inequities and imbalance – yet they could still identify it as America. A free society. A country where legal governance carried weight. A state headed by a respectable and upright leader, notwithstanding his advanced age and declining health.
Nowadays, as October 2025 ends, countless Americans scarcely know the land we live in. Individuals alleged as illegal immigrants are detained and shoved into vehicles, sometimes denied due process. The eastern section of the presidential residence – is undergoing demolition for an obscene ballroom. The president is harassing his opponents or supposed enemies and requesting the justice department surrender a huge total of citizen dollars. Uniformed troops are deployed into American cities with deceptive justifications. The military command, rebranded the War Department, has effectively liberated itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny during its expenditure of potentially totaling close to a trillion USD of taxpayer money. Institutions, attorney offices, journalism organizations are submitting due to presidential intimidation, and wealthy elites are regarded as aristocracy.
“America, only a few months ahead of its 250-year mark as the world’s leading democracy, has crossed the edge into autocracy and totalitarianism,” a noted author, wrote this past summer. “In the end, more quickly than I imagined possible, it occurred in this country.”
Each day begins to new horrors. And it is difficult to grasp – and agonizing to acknowledge – how deeply lost our nation is, and how quickly it unfolded.
However, it is known that the president was duly elected. Even after his highly troubling initial presidency and despite the alerts associated with the awareness of the conservative plan – even after the leader directly stated openly he would act as an autocrat solely at the start – sufficient voters selected him over the other candidate.
Frightening as the current reality is, it’s even scarier to recognize that we are just nine months into this administration. How will another 36 months of this downfall leave us? And what if that period turns into a more extended duration, since there is not anyone to stop this president from determining that a third term is required, maybe for national security reasons?
Admittedly, there is still hope. There are congressional elections next year that may establish an alternate balance of power, in case Democrats retake one or both houses of the legislature. There exist government representatives who are attempting to impose certain responsibility, for example representatives currently launching an investigation regarding the effort to money grab from legal authorities.
And a national vote in 2028 could initiate us down the road toward restoration just as the prior selection set us on this unfortunate course.
There are millions of Americans demonstrating in the streets across municipalities, as they did in the past days during anti-authority protests.
An ex-cabinet member, commented this week that “the slumbering force of America is stirring”, just as it did after the Communist witch-hunt era in that decade or amid the Vietnam war protests or in the seventies crisis.
On those occasions, the listing ship eventually was righted.
He claims he understands the signals of that awakening and sees it happening now. As evidence, he cites the recent massive protests, the broad, cross-party resistance to a personality's dismissal and the almost universal defiance by media to sign military mandates they only publish approved content.
“The slumbering entity perpetually exists asleep till specific greed grows too toxic, some action so disrespectful toward public welfare, certain violence so noisy, that it is compelled but to awaken.”
It's a positive outlook, and I appreciate his knowledgeable stance. Maybe he’ll turn out correct.
At the same time, the major inquiries persist: can America return to normalcy? Can it reclaim its standing internationally and its commitment to legal principles?
Or should we recognize that the national endeavor worked for a while, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?
My cynical mind tells me that the second option is accurate; that all may indeed be gone. My positive feelings, nevertheless, advises me that we must try, in whatever ways possible.
Personally, as a media critic, that involves pushing media professionals to adhere, more completely, to their mission of overseeing leadership. For different individuals, it may be working on political races, or planning demonstrations, or discovering methods to protect voting rights.
Less than a year ago, we existed in a very different place. Twelve months later? Or in several years? The fact is, we are uncertain. The only option is to strive to continue fighting.
What Offers Me Hope Now
The engagement I have in the classroom with new media professionals, that are simultaneously hopeful and grounded, {always
