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One year ago, the landscape was utterly separate. Ahead of the US presidential election, considerate citizens could acknowledge America's serious imperfections – its inequities and imbalance – yet they still could identify it as the United States. A free society. A land where constitutional order meant something. A state headed by a dignified and upright leader, notwithstanding his older age and declining health.

These days, as October 2025 ends, countless Americans barely recognize the land we reside in. People alleged as illegal immigrants are collected and pushed into vehicles, occasionally refused legal rights. The left side of the White House – is being destroyed for an obscene event space. The president is harassing his adversaries or perceived antagonists and demanding the justice department surrender an enormous amount of public funds. Uniformed troops are being sent into American cities under fabricated reasons. The defense headquarters, renamed the Department of War, has effectively liberated itself of routine media oversight during its expenditure of potentially totaling close to a trillion USD from citizen taxes. Colleges, legal practices, media outlets are yielding due to presidential intimidation, and rich magnates are treated like aristocracy.

“The United States, only a few months ahead of its 250-year mark as the planet's foremost free society, has fallen over the limit into authoritarianism and extremism,” a noted author, commented this past summer. “Finally, faster than I believed likely, it did happen here.”

Each day begins with fresh terrors. And it's challenging to understand – and painful to realize – how deeply lost we are, and how quickly it occurred.

However, we understand that the leader was legitimately chosen. Despite his profoundly alarming previous administration and even after the cautions linked to the knowledge of Project 2025 – following the leader directly said publicly he planned to be a dictator solely at the start – sufficient voters elected him rather than his Democratic opponent.

While alarming as today's circumstances are, it's more daunting to recognize that we have only been nine months under this leadership. What will an additional three years of this deterioration leave us? And suppose that period becomes a more extended duration, since there is not anyone to restrain this ruler from opting that a third term is necessary, maybe for security concerns?

Admittedly, all is not lost. We will have midterm elections next year that could establish an alternate balance of power, should Democrats recapture one or both houses of Congress. There exist government representatives who are striving to exert certain responsibility, such as lawmakers currently initiating an inquiry into the attempted money grab from legal authorities.

And a leadership election in the next cycle could start the path to recovery just as the previous vote placed us on this regrettable path.

There exist numerous residents protesting in the streets of their cities, like they performed recently at democracy demonstrations.

An ex-cabinet member, stated lately that “the great sleeping giant of the nation is awakening”, just as it did after the Communist witch-hunt era in the 1950s or throughout the Vietnam war protests or during the Watergate scandal.

On those occasions, the listing ship eventually was righted.

The author states he knows the signs of that awakening and observes it occurring currently. As support, he references the large-scale demonstrations, the broad, bipartisan pushback regarding a broadcaster's firing and the near-unanimous rejection by reporters to agree to the defense department’s demands they only publish what is sanctioned.

“The slumbering entity consistently stays dormant before certain corruption turns extremely harmful, an specific act so disrespectful toward public welfare, some brutality so disruptive, that it is forced other than to stir.”

It’s an optimistic take, and I appreciate his knowledgeable stance. Perhaps he will prove to be right.

Meanwhile, the big questions remain: will the nation return to normalcy? Is it possible to restore its status in the world and its adherence to legal principles?

Or should we recognize that the historical project functioned for a period, and then – abruptly, completely – collapsed?

My negative thoughts suggests that the latter is correct; that everything could be gone. My hopeful heart, though, advises me that we must try, through all methods available.

In my case, working in journalism analysis, that means encouraging reporters to commit, more fully, to their duty of overseeing leadership. For some people, it might involve engaging with political races, or coordinating protests, or finding ways to protect ballot privileges.

Under twelve months back, we lived in a separate situation. Twelve months later? Or three years from now? The reality is, we are uncertain. Our sole course is to strive to persevere.

What Provides Me Optimism Currently

The engagement I have during teaching with aspiring reporters, who are equally visionary and grounded, {always