People of my age, those who read at least, are familiar with George Orwell’s iconic work … 1984. He created a fictional and very frightening world where the rules of conduct had largely been constrained, twisted, or even reversed. Human behavior and individual freedom were highly restricted by a form of universal authoritarian oversight while thought was manipulated through systemic gaslighting (manipulating reality in ways that disorient observers. Nowhere was the oppressive mechanisms of control more transparent than in the corruption of language. In Orwell’s dystopia, freedom meant slavery, lies became truth, and black was white. Nothing was quite what it seemed, so an unquestioned authority was essential to keeping all things from flying apart. Only blind obedience could assuage the disorientation and paranoia intrinsic to this destabilizing reality.

Orwell, of course, lived and wrote during the height of what appeared to be an apocalyptic contest between seemingly irreconcilable views of the good society. On one side were authoritarian models (Fascist and Communist) while a range of Democratic models (including those mildly socialistic) posed an alternative, though these more reasonable alternatives did not always offer promising futures for a world seemingly bent on self- destruction at times. During his formative years, Orwell fought on the Republican or leftist side against Franco’s Fascists during the vicious Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. He was an idealist, driven by a vision of humans being able to develop in freedom and self-determination and thus capable of fully expressing themselves. It must have been disheartening to him when his own side engaged in destructive and nihilistic infighting over who was right and who would be in charge should they prevail in the end. The issue became moot when they were crushed. No wonder he became a master of portraying society in a most negative light. There were few models of enlightened leadership in his world.

Yet, both 1984 and his other iconic work, Animal Farm, have withstood the test of time. They have remained eloquent testimonials to the ever present dangers that overshadow our efforts to develop or sustain participitory methods of self-governance. Can we really perfect, as much as feasible, a democratic model of government, or will we inevitably succumb to the baser instincts embedded in the human animal. While we have a veneer of sophistication and self-congratulatory successes, doubts are ever present. That remains particularly true of the American experiment in democracy.

Humans, after all, are animals not all that advanced over their earlier frightened and vulnerable ancestors, those befuddled predecessors who huddled in small tribes for protection and mere survival. Look around, and you will still see residual evidence of instinctive primal fears that we cannot completely escape. Many of us still react irrationality to those who look, believe, and behave differently from the tribe with which we identify. That primal instinct embedded from eons of successful survival tactics has led to the rise of right-wing movements even in our oldest, most democratic nations. Attack the ‘other’ while circling the wagons around ones own people. It remains our go-to or default response. Above all, look to a strong man for succor and leadership.

And so, I’m sitting here pondering whether Orwell’s warning to future generations yet has currency. Should we still look to him as a prophet or were his futuristic visions merely exercises in imaginative hyperbole? Did he overstate his case for literary notoriety or did he, in fact, predict the threats we now face with uncanny prescience?

Obviously, we are in the midst of our quadrennial exercise in national self-abuse called our Presidential election. I’ve been living through these for almost seven decades (the 1956 election is the first I recall with any clarity). I can say without exaggeration that the last three contests have been qualitatively exceptional, with the stakes dramatically elevated. While it was oft heard that each election was THE most important ever, it just might be true now. The current contest arguably is the most important since 1800 when John Adams, after realizing that the electoral college voted to replace him as President with his arch political enemy Thomas Jefferson, merely got in his carriage and headed back to Boston. That election proved that the Constitution could work. Until that moment, the principles embodied in that document were merely words on paper.

For something like a decade now, the foundational premises of our government have been under increasing threat. Yes, the ‘movement’ conservative initiative launched some seven decades ago (the starting point is open to debate) now exercises control over one of our two major parties. Virtually all moderates have been purged from the Republican party as traitorous RINOs. With the success of the Trump phenomenon, they are ready to push the for the final denoument of a long-held dream … replacing a government of and by the people with the institution of a so-called unitary executive supporting a vision backed by a kleptocracy of super-wealthy, white males. Once firmly in power, all remaining substantive protocols supporting a functional democracy would cease to exist.

Is this nightmare a product of delusional hyperbole? Perhaps, but that has never been my style. I’ve never been a conspiracy oriented type, at least not until recently. Besides, many other sober observers are raising similar alarms. Just yesterday, Former Republican Congress person Liz Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, spoke with Kamala Harris in Ripon Wisconsin … the birthplace of the modern Republican Party back in 1854. In her remarks, she asserted that “… Trump attempted to stay in power by unraveling the foundations of our republic.” As the audience shouted ‘thank you Liz,‘ she added the following warning. “We cannot turn away from this truth.”

It is convenient to think that the existential threat to American democracy was confined to January 6, 2021, the day that exiting President Donald Trump encouraged HIS people to storm the Capitol to forcibly stop the electoral college from carrying out their routine Constitutional function. In a recently released legal brief, it was revealed that aides rushed in to tell Trump that his Vice President was in physical danger and might need to be rescued. His response was two terse words, ‘so what.’ The President was willing for his second in command to be hung by a rabid mob rather than lift a finger to help. If his naked ambition blinded him to the immediate plight of his second-in-command, what thought would get give to mere words on a document, even one that has purportedly guided the republic for nearly 250 years.

By this moment in time (1-6-21), Trump and his minions had long been engaged in thwarting the ‘foundations of our Republic’ to repeat Cheney’s words. Trump thought that the Presidency put him above the law. With increasing rasfness and a disregard for legal niceties, he began to refashion his administration into a semi-dictatorship. He told increasingly bold lies. He purged his administration of those not sufficiently loyal to him as opposed to their professional duties. He hired an acolyte to oversee federal hiring (John McCentee) and initiated a plan to change tens of thousands of civil servants to ‘schedule F’ positions. That would make loyalty to Trump the sole basis for keeping ones positions. Trump went after those functionaries in his own administration who might thwart his exercise of unchecked power (Attorney General Jeff Sessions, James Comey, several departmental level Inspector Generals etc.). He had his administration transparently issue what they called ‘alternative facts.’ Nothing foretold the dawn of Orwell’s dystopia more clearly than this disturbing fact. Finally, as reelection time approached, Trump nakedly sought to influence foreign leaders to help him stay in power, which led to his impeachment but not conviction (on party lines). This act was seen as so egregiously dangerous to the republic that it was outlawed by the Logan Act of 1799.

All of the above have been fully documented in court cases and legal briefs, Congressional hearings, and books and articles written by insiders who often witnessed such events. While the past is disturbing, the possible future is, to draw upon my most dire descriptor, downright Orwellian. Though Trump may be mentally declining, even he (and certainly those in his inner circle) recognize the mistakes they made last time around. Early in their administration, they appointed too many individuals who, while conservative, yet believed in their oaths of office and in the Constitution. They ascribed to the rule of law and to the limits on executive power. Many were purged because of their fidelity to these principles, but not soon enough to remain in power despite the last elections indisputable outcome. While Trump exercised a ferocious end game to stay in power, it proved not quite enough.

Next time around, if there is one, the same mistakes will not be repeated. Trump’s minions have already drawn up plans to eviscerate the independent civil service that goes back to the reforms of the 1880s. They will finish the job of bringing the levers of power into line including the judiciary, the military, the justice department, and those overseeing elections. Pay heed to the words of Trump himself when he promised Evangelicals that one more vote for him and they won’t have to worry about voting anymore. That is not an idle threat. That is the plan.

The blueprint for America’s future is laid out in Project 2025. It is a full agenda for replacing our participatory form of governance with an oligarchic model based on this neutral sounding term of unitary executive. Make no mistake about what that means … the introduction of a dictatorship. It would be the end of the American experiment as we have known it, and for which so many have sacrificed so much.

I would like to argue that, assuming a good outcome in November, the threat of an Orwellian dystopia is over. But no, V.P. candidate Vance stands ready to pick up the banner. He is smarter than Trump, far more educated, and equally as bankupt morally. He has already demonstrated that he can lie with Donald’s aplomb and stir up divisive hate by stoking fear of alleged immigrant hordes. More disturbingly, the tens of millions of MAGA conservatives won’t go away, nor will the billionaires with their limitless resources ready to create a society they can control for their own nefarious purposes. It is not over by a long shot.

George Orwell’s nightmare is not at an end. It has only just begun.