I Am No Longer Optimistic, But Still Hopeful for America

America’s democracy is faltering, but our hope remains in collective action, fairness, and resistance against authoritarianism. By living our values, we can reclaim the nation’s promise.

Graham Jackson at FDR's Funeral.

By Jeremi Suri

I grew up believing that Americans were a “chosen” people, and our country would always be a model for the world. My father was an immigrant, and this country offered him many opportunities. My mother was the grandchild of Jewish refugees, and we could live freer as Jews in the United States than almost anywhere else. I attended public schools in New York, where I received a first-class education and a strong start on the rest of my life. Although imperfect, the United States was democracy in action – Lincoln’s “last, best hope.”

I cannot believe this anymore. It is obvious to me and the whole world that the United States has become something very different. We are a society that has twice elected a man president who does not exhibit any desire to help anyone who will not help him. He is cruel, offensive, bullying, and hateful – and millions of Americans chose him twice (millions voted for him three times!) In the last month, he embarked on a rampage to destroy the institutions at home and abroad that hundreds of millions of people rely on for health and security, and while Americans did not elect him to do this, so many business and elected leaders seem willing to let him carry on. Republicans in the U.S. Senate, once considered the world’s great deliberative body, have confirmed a vaccine denier (Robert Kennedy, Jr.) and a second-rate tv news personality (Pete Hegseth) to run the largest health and military organizations in the world because they are Trump’s ass-kissers. Meanwhile, the world’s richest man is seizing all of our data and hiring and firing career civil servants at will.

This is not democracy. It is an embarrassment and so much more. The United States might now be the greatest threat to democracy, especially in Europe, in Latin America, in Taiwan, and elsewhere.

The United States has the worst leadership in our history, and a body politic willing to accept many of the horrors. Voters will soon turn against Trump and his lackeys, but that will only happen after countless lines have been crossed, foundational institutions have been destroyed, and millions of people have been harmed, many irreparably. And none of this is a surprise. Americans will regret it, but they cannot escape that they chose this path when they had numerous alternatives, and they imposed this horror on the rest of the world.

I have lost my optimism that Americans are “chosen” to model democracy. I remain hopeful, however, that we can still salvage democracy by reversing our current course. That will not happen overnight, and it will not be easy. As we witness the horrors of a president denying vital Medicare payments to citizens, firing air traffic controllers as planes crash, selling out courageous Ukrainians, and advocating ethnic cleansing, we can push back. We can speak up to everyone who will listen and tell them this is not who we are. We can demand that elected representatives, business leaders, and community figures stand strong for our values. We can support the many men and women of courage who defend the vulnerable, confront the corrupt, and try to build where they destroy. More than resistance, mass action can show that we remember what really made us a great, proud nation.

This was a lesson from the Civil Rights Movement. Mass action is about persuading through example – living the cause. By living our democracy when it is under assault, we can reinvigorate our values with a deeply personal commitment. We must throw our bodies on the machine of authoritarianism and push the gears back into a democratic configuration. That happens every day in how we act. That happens every day when we make our voices, dollars, and energies push in one direction alone: fairness.

Democracy is fairness for all citizens. The Americans I revered were fair. Most Americans I know today still believe in fairness, and we largely agree on what it means: Everyone should get a chance. Everyone should receive respect for their body and their life choices. Everyone should give back.

I am hopeful because I believe that this horrible moment, when so many are denying fairness, will remind us why we need it. We can live and fight for fairness. I believe we will. I choose hope.

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Jeremi Suri - Korey Howell Photography

Jeremi Suri holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a professor in the University's Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Professor Suri is the author and editor of eleven books on politics and foreign policy, most recently: Civil War By Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy. His other books include: The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office; Liberty’s Surest Guardian: American Nation-Building from the Founders to Obama; Henry Kissinger and the American Century; and Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Détente. His writings appear in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN.com, Atlantic, Newsweek, Time, Wired, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and other media. Professor Suri is a popular public lecturer and comments frequently on radio and television news. His writing and teaching have received numerous prizes, including the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Texas and the Pro Bene Meritis Award for Contributions to the Liberal Arts. Professor Suri hosts a weekly podcast, “This is Democracy.”