By far, the most salient point about the political reality in my country is that this isn't an exception, or atypical, like a normal, liberal Western democracy where, for a season, professional wrestling on television becomes popular for some reason. From the mechanism that has swung into place behind the administration, it should be evident that this isn't a superficial change in government. (Having noticed a few things about his early backers, I'm not surprised by this.)
But this doesn't mean that all good citizens should rush to the barricades. In fact, the polarizing political hyperbole and mobilization from the opposition basically ensured the election of the present executive. Just note where things ring false, and remember them as specifically as you can, and use the falsity that you observe as the basis of your political discourse. If you were debating a madman, you wouldn't conduct the debate as if he were sane and impute the rational form of his ideas to his side, and you wouldn't start frothing at the mouth yourself. Just indicate the falsity.
And it's not just the political sphere. Having been a professional actor for a decade (as a matter of principle, I count the last three years, in which for some reason I couldn't even book a non-paying job), I went to a top law school and earned good grades, and I spent four years on a research doctorate, and I came to know the prevailing culture in these places very well. The country is the test of a certain principle -- whether a prosperous middle class (by recent sociological books, a proportion much higher than any in the past) can stabilize and govern itself democratically. At this point, we can only hope that a time-traveller somehow reaches Philadelphia at the founding to describe the world of televised politics. But absent that, perhaps we should make the necessary adjustments.
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The disclaimer of self-interest, of course. But the fact that quiet people who basically keep to themselves and read a lot, even with strong degrees from good schools, sometimes find it virtually impossible to secure the basic necessities of life because they haven't formed a sufficient number of corrupt connections among the great and the good is one of the chief signs that I'm pointing to. Ask anyone who has attended a good school recently about the scholarship there, and they'll likely talk instead about how important it was to make acquaintances, whatever the intellectual cost. This is one sign that the civilization has turned against the culture.
A certain type of civilization begins to form. I recognize it, because I've been travelling through several civilizations of that type over much of the past few years. But the good people in these places who are trying to make their own world a better place look to distant models for inspiration, and they used to look to my country for that.
Seek, strive, find, don't yield, &c.