What’s happening in this country doesn’t feel like winning — when are we going to say enough is enough?
What’s happening in this country doesn’t feel like winning — when are we going to say enough is enough?
We’re only five months into this new administration, and already the ground beneath us feels like it’s crumbling.
The economy staggers under the weight of poor leadership and erratic policy. Tariffs — short-sighted and self-defeating — are tightening the noose on small businesses and working families. Public education is under siege. DEI programs are being dismantled. PBS, one of the few remaining pillars of nonpartisan public service, is being targeted.
Military bases are being renamed — not as part of a thoughtful reckoning with history, but as a culture war tactic meant to erase progress. And perhaps most chillingly, our democratic institutions are being hollowed out from the inside. Cryptocurrencies and meme stocks are treated like national security tools. Tech executives with no military background are being appointed as lieutenant colonels in the U.S. Army. This isn’t innovation — it’s infiltration.
And now, masked and unidentified forces are reportedly carrying out what amounts to state-sanctioned kidnapping and human trafficking on U.S. soil. It sounds like dystopian fiction; yet, here we are.
Then came the unprovoked military strike on Iran — a flashpoint with global consequences, executed without transparency, debate or a clear moral justification.
Let’s be clear: this doesn’t feel like strength. It doesn’t feel like stability. And it certainly doesn’t feel like leadership. This feels like decline. Coordinated, deliberate decline.
As an eternal optimist, I am not someone who typically gives in to despair. I believe in the power of collective action, and I’ve seen how resilient communities can be when they come together. Across the country, organizations are aligning, coalitions are forming, and people are speaking up. What’s most heartening is that the concern is no longer confined to one political party. It’s not just Democrats who are alarmed — many independents and even longtime Republicans are beginning to question what is happening in our country.
Because this moment transcends politics. This is about whether we still recognize the America we thought we knew. It’s about the line between governance and authoritarianism — and whether that line has already been crossed.
So, I ask again: When is enough, enough? At what point do we stop excusing, explaining, or numbing ourselves to the unraveling before us?
History has shown that democracies don’t fall all at once. They erode in increments — through distraction, normalization and silence. But we are not powerless. We have a voice. We have each other. And we still have a choice.
We need to decide, now, whether we are going to be silent witnesses to a slow-motion collapse — or engaged citizens determined to stop it.
Laura Armstrong of Rapid City, a speech language pathologist who owns a small private clinic, is a regular contributor to The South Dakota Standard. She served two consecutive terms on the Rapid City Common Council (2017-2023) twice as council president, and remains dedicated to the Rapid City community.
Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons
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