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Throughout its history, the United States has had plenty of good years and a few really bad ones. 2025 was the worst in more than a century.

Before we get into why that is, we first want to clarify that, for the purposes of this column, we define a “good” year as a year in which the country moved closer to the ideals its founders aspired to. Specifically, they affirmed in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” and have “unalienable rights,” including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Obviously, they didn’t always practice what they preached.

For example, there was slavery for nearly 100 years after the birth of the nation, and the US government participated in the extermination of the continent’s indigenous population for the purpose of seizing the land it wanted for expansion.

Black men could not vote for almost a century, and women weren’t granted suffrage until 1920.

Still, for most of that time, the young nation made progress. Sometimes it was just a tiny bit at a time, sometimes it took a step backward after having moved forward, and sometimes there were gigantic leaps.

One of those leaps followed what were arguably the worst years in American history. In 1861, the “rebel states” sought to split from the Union so that they could form a country that was the antithesis of those founding ideals.

Instead of allowing them to leave, the rest of the now-divided states went to war with the South to preserve a government “by the people and for the people.”

In the ensuing four years, hundreds of thousands of soldiers died until the Confederacy was brought to heel.

Following the North’s victory, the nation took a major step forward by enacting the “Reconstruction Amendments,” which abolished slavery, established equal protection under the law, and prohibited the infringement of voting rights on the basis of race.

Unfortunately, because the Union failed to do what was necessary to sustain the protections created by these amendments in the following decades, attempts to disenfranchise minority voters, largely by Southern states, continue to this day.

Obviously, plenty of bad things have happened since the end of the Civil War.

A global pandemic coincided with the end of World War I. Only a little over two decades later, more than 400,000 young Americans perished in another World War.

In both cases, however, they died in a fight against oppression and for the ideals the United States espoused. Ultimately, their sacrifice helped Europe to unite and become a trusted ally, including in the fight for their shared democratic values.

Things got a bit murkier in the following conflicts. Tens of thousands of Americans gave their lives in proxy wars against the Soviet Union in Asia, and thousands more died in Afghanistan and Iraq in the “war on terror.”

In between, after the Civil Rights Movement sought to implement those founding ideals, the racism that had been smoldering for a hundred years reared its ugly head again. Still, once again, something good came out of something bad.

And, of course, there was the 2020 pandemic that not only killed more than a million Americans but also led to the country’s further political division.

Still, we believe that 2025 was much worse than all of these.

Not because a lot of Americans died. In fact, most of the deaths that the US government is causing are occurring far away.

Instead, what sets this year apart is that Donald Trump and his cronies have completely abandoned the nation’s founding ideals.

The first year of his second term symbolizes the most jarring setback to what the United States was envisioned to be since the secession.

For nearly a quarter millennium, the country has generally moved forward to achieve “a more perfect union.” Trump and his authoritarian allies, however, have slammed on the brakes and thrown the nation into reverse.

Now, the government is violating the Constitution daily — often in the most egregious manner — including by trying to take away the rights bestowed on Americans in the Reconstruction Amendments.

Armed and masked goons are roving the country to round up immigrants in raids that often also lead to the arrest of citizens.

Troops are patrolling the streets of American cities to put down imaginary protests.

War crimes are being committed in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean.

Trump keeps inventing emergencies to grant himself more power.

The two supposedly co-equal branches of government have largely abdicated their roles in the “checks and balances” system the Founders designed.

The president openly harbors authoritarian ambitions and has surrounded himself with loyalists who support him in his endeavors.

The no-longer-independent Department of Justice now functions as the enforcement arm of the administration.

Trump openly fantasizes about punishing the media and is using lawfare to cow news organizations into compliance.

The violent insurrectionists of January 6, 2021, are pardoned.

The president’s family is not even hiding its corruption.

In addition, the US routinely sides with some of the world’s worst regimes and spurns its most steadfast allies.

And, unfortunately, those non-MAGA leaders who are in positions of power are too often standing by or are even complicit in Trump’s depredations. This includes American corporations, media organizations, and the opposition Democrats.

And yet – all that being said, it could be much worse.

It is true that after running a dysfunctional White House in his first term, Trump and his hand-picked team of wannabe autocrats were extremely efficient in dismantling the rule of law and democracy in the early days of this year.

However, since then, their efforts have stalled a bit as the American people began standing up and voicing their unhappiness with the president — in elections throughout 2025, in polls, and in the streets, where millions of them joined in the overwhelmingly peaceful “No Kings” protests.

And even the president’s loyal MAGA base shows cracks, in large part because of Trump’s handling of the Epstein matter.

Those are positive signs heading into 2026.

But the real fight against this authoritarian regime still lies ahead.

Yes, right now, it looks as though the Democrats, hapless as they are, stand to win the midterms, which would result in Trump and this administration facing some real accountability.

However, since the president and his henchmen want to avoid this at all costs, they will likely try to place both thumbs on the scales of democracy to make that election as unfair as they can get away with.

We are already seeing this happening. In a blatant violation of the Constitution, Trump has already tried to assume control over the election.

And then, of course, Republicans have been trying to give themselves an edge through virtually unprecedented mid-decade gerrymandering.

Expect to see a lot more of this, not just from the White House but also from GOP-run states across the country.

How successful will they be? It depends in large part on the American people.

As we enter the 250th year since the nation’s founding, it bears remembering that they rejected the rule of a tyrant once before.

Our fondest wish this New Year’s Eve is that they will manage to do so again, and our resolution for 2026 is that we will do our part.