Watching President Trump’s ongoing confrontations with the rule of law and democratic values evokes memories of an event from 1964—the year I finished high school.
In the early hours of March 13, Kitty Genovese, who was just 28, was raped and fatally attacked outside her apartment in Queens. Later reports suggested that nearly 40 witnesses either saw or heard the incident yet chose not to intervene. This shocking apathy resonated deeply across the nation, highlighting a phenomenon known as the “bystander effect.”
Is this account—despite its flaws—analogous to our current situation? We see a criminal president and his associates relentlessly undermining our democracy while elected officials seem paralyzed, overlooking their duty to act.
For those of us who’ve served in the military, especially in combat roles, the hesitance of leaders and comrades during an assault can be particularly unsettling. We place our faith in our defenders to stand firm against external threats.
But, what about those defenders? They expect our own citizens to rise against the domestic threats that compromise democracy, erode our freedoms, and tarnish the tenets that have defined us for centuries. It’s disheartening to witness both domestic and foreign cowards turn their backs on America.
The bystander effect is rampant in Congress and the Supreme Court—institutions purified to prevent the emergence of tyranny. It feels as if our lawmakers and judges are paralyzed, worried about facing backlash or losing positions they never earned through good governance.
We’ve long believed that every generation should leave a safer, better world for the next. Yet we also owe a debt to those who, centuries ago, fought against overwhelming royal power. Over 70,000 souls perished in that struggle and more than a million have been lost in subsequent wars.
Yet, while Trump and the extreme right relentlessly dismantle our republic, our strongest institutions remain inert. Elections should serve as a remedy for such cruelty, but the Trump apparatus is steadily wrecking representative governance before votes can even be cast.
There’s an alarming truth: 77 million Americans have been misled into electing someone whose legal troubles are far from trivial. It’s a sobering thought that those voting for Trump were aware of his past actions and the possible implications of his presidency, including his attempts to evade accountability for numerous charges.
Trump returned to the presidency with an array of promises to the American populace. He often speaks about the “forgotten middle class,” but fails to deliver. As I reflect on this, more than 41 million Americans are grappling with food insecurity, becoming pawns in a federal standoff while Trump lavishes funds on an extravagant banquet hall that no one else seems to want. It’s frustrating to think that those resources could have significantly aided food banks instead.
The Constitution’s promise is that of justice, peace, and a pursuit of a more perfect union. Yet, we find ourselves in a landscape where revenge and intimidation have supplanted justice, and sycophants have overtaken public servants. There’s been no peace in American politics since Trump emerged in 2015.
It almost clarifies Benjamin Franklin’s poignant remark that the founders gave us a republic, “if you can keep it.” The architects of our foundational documents, who defied the overreach of kings and sacrificed for our freedoms, as well as the generations that upheld the American Dream through various trials, expected us to “keep it alive.”
But, perhaps they miscalculated. They might have assumed that the subsequent generations would recognize their privileges and possess the principles and bravery necessary to shield America from tyrants and bigots. The founders set in place mechanisms to protect our democracy. We need to introspect, to genuinely consider why those equipped with these tools are not utilizing them.
William S. Becker, a former U.S. Department of Energy employee and founder of the Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development during the Clinton era, penned a work that discusses communities impacted by floods and offers reforms aimed at FEMA.
