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Twelve months back, the environment was utterly separate. Before the US presidential election, thoughtful Americans could admit America's serious imperfections – its injustices and disparity – but they still could perceive it as the United States. A free society. A country where constitutional order held significance. A nation guided by a respectable and decent leader, notwithstanding his older age and increasing frailty.

Nowadays, this autumn, many of us barely recognize the land we reside in. People believed to be illegal immigrants are collected and shoved into vehicles, sometimes denied due process. The eastern section of the “people’s house” – is being destroyed for a grotesque ballroom. Donald Trump is harassing his adversaries or alleged foes and insisting legal authorities surrender a huge total of taxpayer money. Armed military personnel are dispatched into American cities with deceptive justifications. The defense headquarters, renamed the Defense Ministry, has – in effect – liberated itself of day-to-day journalistic scrutiny as it spends possibly reaching almost one trillion dollars from citizen taxes. Institutions, legal practices, news companies are yielding under the president’s threats, and wealthy elites are regarded as nobility.

“America, just months before its 250-year mark as the globe's top democratic nation, has tipped over the limit into authoritarianism and extremism,” a noted author, stated in August. “In the end, swifter than I thought feasible, it transpired in this country.”

Every morning starts with fresh terrors. And it's challenging to understand – and painful to realize – how severely declined our nation is, and the rapid pace with which it unfolded.

Yet, we know that the president was legitimately chosen. Following his deeply disturbing first term and even after the cautions that came with the knowledge of the rightwing blueprint – even after the leader directly said publicly he intended to be a dictator only on the first day – enough Americans selected him rather than his Democratic opponent.

While alarming as the current reality are, it’s even scarier to realize that we are just three-quarters of a year into this presidential term. How will another 36 months of this decline find us? And if that period turns into a more extended duration, because there is no one to limit this ruler from determining that additional tenure is required, possibly for defense purposes?

Certainly, there is still hope. We will have legislative votes the coming year which might create a new balance of power, if Democrats retake either chamber of parliament. There are public servants who are trying to impose some accountability, such as lawmakers currently starting a probe concerning the try to money grab from legal authorities.

And a national vote in the next cycle could begin the path to healing just as last year’s election set us on this regrettable path.

We see millions of Americans demonstrating in the streets across municipalities, like they performed in the past days during anti-authority protests.

Robert Reich, wrote recently that “the great sleeping giant of the US is rising”, just as it did following the Red Scare in that decade or amid the sixties activism or during the Nixon controversy.

In those instances, the tilting vessel finally returned to balance.

The author states he understands the signals of that resurgence and sees it happening now. As support, he cites the recent massive protests, the broad, multi-faction opposition to a television host's removal and the almost universal refusal by journalists to sign the defense department’s demands they solely cover what is sanctioned.

“The dormant force consistently stays dormant till some venality becomes so noxious, some action so contemptuous toward public welfare, certain violence so loud, that the giant is forced except to rise.”

It's a positive outlook, and I appreciate Reich’s experienced view. Perhaps he will be validated.

At the same time, the crucial issues persist: is the US able to ever recover? Can it reclaim its standing in the world and its adherence to legal principles?

Or must we acknowledge that the national endeavor worked for a while, and then – swiftly, totally – ended?

My cynical mind tells me that the final scenario is accurate; that everything might be finished. My positive feelings, however, convinces me that we need to strive, by any means possible.

For me, as a media critic, that involves pushing media professionals to live up, more fully, to their mission of holding power to account. For some people, it could mean engaging with election efforts, or coordinating protests, or developing approaches to defend ballot privileges.

Under twelve months back, we existed in a very different place. A year from now? Or in several years? The truth is, we are uncertain. All we can do is to attempt to persevere.

What Provides Me Encouragement Today

The interaction I have with students with new media professionals, who are equally idealistic and realistic, {always