“The normal cycle in the life and death of great nations has been first a powerful tyranny broken by revolt, the enjoyment of liberty, the abuse of liberty – and back to tyranny again. As I see it, in this country – a land of the most persistent idealism and the blandest cynicism – the race is on between its decadence and its vitality.”
Alistair Cooke
Now that 2025 has ended, we must realize that we’re officially more than a quarter of the way into the 21st century. And, in the United States, we have a totalitarian despot as our President. I never would have thought we’d be in this position – the self-proclaimed “Beacon of Democracy” has a self-righteous moron as its leader.
Reminder: we’re in the 21st century – C.E.!
Last November marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Francisco Franco, who came to power during Spain’s Civil War and ruled for more than three decades. Western Europe’s last true dictator, Franco persecuted his political opponents, suppressed certain cultural aspects, manipulated the media, and just generally wielded absolute control over the country. His death brought democratic relief to Spain.
It’s a familiar pattern that’s occurred across the globe and throughout human history. Certain individuals promise – and initially bring – freedom to the people and then mutate into a brutal autocrat. The masses get sucked into the chasm of false promises and righteous dreams…then are horrified when the truth comes out.
Sometimes it appears humanity will never learn. I feel that way now about the United States. In 2000 we all stood on the precipice of a new century and a new millennium. The future was ours. Then, here in the U.S., we regressed and inadvertently chose a leader who turned out to be ill-equipped for the role of “Leader of the Free World”. And the first decade of the 21st century – C.E. – became lost to war and the morass of class divisions. We should have been preparing to build a colony on the moon and sending humans to Mars. Instead Americans were trying to figure out whether to pay for utilities or buy groceries.
And we’ve reached that point again.
In June of 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion in this country. It accompanied ongoing attacks on our literary culture, as book bans rampaged across the land. Looking at all of it, I wondered how and why we were moving backwards. Societies, in general theory, are supposed to move forward – much like time. Conservatism may sound like a grand ideology, but it can be detrimental.
In November of 1979, I was a high school student and in San Antonio, Texas for a speech and drama contest, when we heard news that a band of rebels had stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran. Some of my fellow students had no idea where Iran was, much less why it had become a target for protesters. But we’d soon learn exactly why. From then until January of 1981, a number of Americans were held hostage in Tehran as retribution for the U.S. support of their former national leader, Reza Shah Pahlavi. Pahlavi had been forced from power earlier in 1979 by a populace who had grown weary of his tortuous rule. Now Iran is in the grips of social unrest once more, and ironically, Pahlavi’s son is seeking to return to his homeland and lead his people into a new universe.
Again, the world has seen this happen before: Russia, China, France…the list is almost endless. The citizenry gets tired of how their universe is functioning and decides to take action. The result is often violent.
This year, 2026, officially marks the semiquincentennial of the United States – our 250th anniversary of existence. I was twelve years old in the summer of 1976, when we marked our bicentennial, and I felt an extraordinary sense of pride and excitement. The nation was still recovering from the brutal cultural upheaval of the 1960s, but at that moment, we all seemed to bond and become – as our founders intended – a truly united people. I’m certain I’ll never live to see our tricenntenial, but it’s a pleasant dream.
It’s even more inspirational to know our nation will move beyond the likes of our current leaders who have no real sense of a future. We’ll never be a utopia. No community can ever achieve that.
Denounce me as naïve, if you want – I’ve often called myself cynical at this point in my life. but I still hope for the best.
Chief Writing Wolf 