Even before Trump, we were on the way to losing our democracy – but we did not pay attention. Now, we have no choice but to attend to it

If you’re feeling despair over Trump’s second regime, which begins today, I understand.

Yet I remain hopeful about America. Let me explain why.

Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His newest book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com