How Did We Get to This Moment of Backward Momentum in the U.S.?

A deep reflection on the U.S.’s democratic setbacks, historical parallels, and the enduring fight for justice.

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Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. often preached that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Change, he asserted, takes a long time, but if we stay committed for the long-haul, we can bring it about.

I add an amendment to King’s noble arc of justice by imagining this as a coil, like the old slinky toy laid out on its side. I see moral progress revolving like this coil stretched out, advancing up and forward, then circling down and back, though not as far back as it began, until it starts its upward forward motion once again.

Unfortunately, at certain moments in history, the noble arc or coil seems only to retreat and back up many cycles upon itself until most if not all of the previous forward movement has become undone.

Within the past 125 years or so, we have witnessed or learned of this ultimate retreat in which the relative liberal democracies of, for example, Italy, Spain, Germany, China, Cuba, Vietnam, Hungary, Turkey, and other countries have devolved into fascist or communist totalitarian…