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Twelve months back, the landscape was entirely distinct. Prior to the US presidential election, thoughtful citizens could recognize the country's serious imperfections – its unfairness and inequality – but they still could see it as the United States. A democracy. A land where the rule of law carried weight. A nation guided by a respectable and ethical official, notwithstanding his advanced age and declining health.

Currently, as October 2025 ends, countless Americans hardly identify the land we reside in. People suspected of being undocumented migrants are collected and forced into vehicles, occasionally denied due process. The left side of the White House – is undergoing demolition for a grotesque dance hall. The president is targeting his political rivals or alleged foes and demanding legal authorities transfer a huge total of citizen dollars. Uniformed troops are deployed into American cities under fabricated reasons. The defense headquarters, relabeled the War Department, has – in effect – freed itself of regular press examination while it uses what could amount to close to a trillion USD of taxpayer money. Universities, law firms, journalism organizations are buckling from leader's menaces, and wealthy elites are handled as aristocracy.

“America, shortly prior to its 250-year mark as the planet's foremost free society, has fallen over the limit into autocracy and totalitarianism,” Garrett Graff, wrote this past summer. “Finally, faster than I thought feasible, it occurred here.”

Every morning starts with fresh terrors. And it is challenging to understand – and agonizing to acknowledge – how severely declined we have become, and the speed at which it has happened.

However, it is known that the president was properly voted in. Despite his highly troubling first term and despite the warnings that came with the knowledge of Project 2025 – despite the leader directly stated openly he planned to act as an autocrat solely at the start – sufficient voters elected him instead of Kamala Harris.

While alarming as the current reality may be, it’s even scarier to recognize that we’re only nine months into this administration. How will three more years of this deterioration position us? And if that timeframe turns into something even longer, as there is not anyone to stop this president from opting that a third term is essential, maybe for national security reasons?

Admittedly, not everything is hopeless. There are midterm elections in 2026 that could create a new governmental control, should Democrats regain the Senate or House of the legislature. There exist elected officials who are striving to exert some accountability, like lawmakers who are launching an investigation concerning the try to money grab from the justice department.

And a presidential election in the next cycle could initiate the path toward restoration precisely as the prior selection placed us on this disappointing trajectory.

There are millions of Americans demonstrating in urban areas throughout communities, similar to recent last weekend in the No Kings rallies.

An ex-cabinet member, stated lately that “the dormant powerhouse of the nation is awakening”, just as it did after the Communist witch-hunt era in the 1950s or during the Vietnam war protests or in the Nixon controversy.

In those instances, the unstable nation ultimately corrected itself.

The author states he understands the signals of that resurgence and notices it unfolding at present. For proof, he references the widespread marches, the widespread, multi-faction opposition regarding a television host's removal and the almost universal refusal by journalists to agree to military mandates they only publish approved content.

“The dormant force always remains asleep till some venality becomes so noxious, an specific act so offensive of the common good, some brutality so noisy, that the giant is forced but to awaken.”

It's a hopeful perspective, and I value his knowledgeable stance. Maybe he’ll turn out correct.

At the same time, the crucial issues remain: will the nation ever recover? Is it possible to restore its standing globally and its commitment to the rule of law?

Or must we acknowledge that the 250-year-old experiment functioned for a period, and then – suddenly, utterly – failed?

My negative thoughts suggests that the latter is true; that everything might be finished. My hopeful heart, however, convinces me that we need to strive, through all methods available.

In my case, as an observer of the press, that involves encouraging reporters to commit, more fully, to their duty of holding power to account. For some people, it might involve participating in political races, or planning demonstrations, or finding ways to safeguard electoral access.

Less than a year ago, we lived in a separate situation. A year from now? Or three years from now? The fact is, we cannot predict. The only option is to strive to continue fighting.

What’s Giving Me Hope Now

The contact I encounter in the classroom with aspiring reporters, who are equally idealistic and practical, {always