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One year ago, the situation was entirely different. Ahead of the American presidential vote, reflective Americans could recognize the country's deep flaws – its injustices and imbalance – yet they could still identify it as the United States. A democratic nation. A place where constitutional order meant something. A country guided by a honorable and ethical leader, even with his elderly years and declining health.

These days, this autumn, many of us scarcely know the country we reside in. Individuals alleged as illegal immigrants are collected and pushed into transport, sometimes refused legal rights. The East Wing of the White House – is being destroyed to build a lavish event space. Donald Trump is persecuting his opponents or perceived antagonists and requesting legal authorities hand over a massive sum of citizen dollars. Uniformed troops are being sent across metropolitan centers on false pretexts. The defense headquarters, rebranded the War Department, has effectively freed itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny as it spends potentially totaling nearly $1tn of taxpayer money. Universities, attorney offices, news companies are buckling due to presidential intimidation, and billionaires are regarded as members of the royal family.

“The United States, shortly prior to its quarter-millennium anniversary as the planet's foremost free society, has crossed the brink toward dictatorship and extremism,” an American historian, stated this past summer. “Finally, swifter than I thought feasible, it occurred here.”

Each day begins with fresh terrors. And it is challenging to understand – and agonizing to acknowledge – how deeply lost our nation is, and how quickly it unfolded.

However, it is known that the president was properly voted in. Even after his deeply disturbing first term and even after the warnings linked to the knowledge of the rightwing blueprint – even after Trump himself said publicly he intended to rule as a tyrant solely at the start – enough Americans selected him instead of the other candidate.

Frightening as the current reality are, it's more frightening to recognize that we’re only nine months into this administration. Where will three more years of this downfall find us? And if that period turns into an prolonged era, since there is nobody to stop this ruler from deciding that another term is essential, maybe for defense purposes?

Admittedly, there is still hope. There will be legislative votes the coming year that could establish an alternate governmental control, in case Democrats recapture one or both houses of the legislature. There are government representatives who are attempting to apply certain responsibility, such as representatives currently launching an investigation into the attempted fund seizure from the justice department.

And a presidential election in 2028 could begin the path toward restoration just as the prior selection put us on this disappointing trajectory.

There are millions of Americans demonstrating in the streets of their cities, as they did recently during anti-authority protests.

Robert Reich, stated lately that “the dormant powerhouse of America is awakening”, just as it did after the Communist witch-hunt era during the fifties or amid anti-war demonstrations or during the Watergate scandal.

On those occasions, the tilting vessel ultimately corrected itself.

Reich says he knows the signs of that revival and observes it occurring currently. As support, he cites the widespread marches, the broad, multi-faction opposition to a broadcaster's firing and the largely united rejection by reporters to accept military mandates they report only authorized information.

“The slumbering entity perpetually exists asleep until specific greed grows too toxic, some action so contemptuous of societal benefit, specific cruelty so loud, that the giant has no choice but to awaken.”

It's a positive outlook, and I value his knowledgeable stance. Maybe he’ll prove to be right.

Meanwhile, the big questions endure: can America ever recover? Can it retrieve its position in the world and its adherence to legal principles?

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

My negative thoughts tells me that the latter is correct; that all may indeed be gone. My positive feelings, however, convinces me that we need to strive, in whatever ways we can.

Personally, as an observer of the press, that’s about encouraging reporters to adhere, more fully, to their purpose of scrutinizing authority. For others, it may be engaging with election efforts, or planning demonstrations, or discovering methods to protect voting rights.

Under twelve months back, we were in a very different place. Twelve months later? Or in several years? The truth is, we are uncertain. All we can do is try to persevere.

What Offers Me Optimism Currently

The engagement I encounter with students with aspiring reporters, that are simultaneously idealistic and realistic, {always