Trust. If you don’t have it — or inspire it — you don’t have squat.
And that is exactly the position the federal government finds itself in today.
Just about a month ago, CNN released results of a trust-in-government poll it had commissioned, and the numbers were shocking and depressing.
Only 15 percent of the respondents said they trusted government to do what’s right always or most of the time. In September 2010, it was 25 percent.
About 77 percent said they trusted government only some of the time, while 8 percent said they never trust government to do what’s right by the American people.
The numbers have been trending downward for the past five years, primarily because of the Great Recession. Those saying they trusted government “always” or “most of the time” had been steady in the low-to-mid 20s, hardly anything to write home about. Before the recession, the figure was in the high 30s, sometimes reaching into the low 40s.
The causes of this precipitious erosion of confidence, of trust, are legion.
Political parties that are in constant campaign mode, caring more about the next election and raising the money needed to be victorious.
Politicians who are more interested in the glare of the television cameras than in doing the hard work of governing and leading.
Large corporations that are in bed with politicians of all ideological stripes, showering them with ungodly amounts of money and perks, solely to get favorable regulations written or legislation enacted.
The list could go on and on.
The rise of the tea party on the right and Occupy Wall Street on the left shine a spotlight on what happens when all trust, all faith is lost. Both groups believe the system is broken; they’re just laying blame on different shoulders.
The bottom line is that major institutions in our system have lost the public’s trust. Folks who identify themselves as conservatives tend not to trust government; self-identified liberals have little faith in corporations and business interests.
For the most part, people just want not to be harmed by government and want to have a fair shot at a good job to provide for their families. In this day and time, however, they see politicians taking actions that could endanger their futures, they see corporations more interested in lining the pockets of upper management than in creating good jobs for Americans.
And if something doesn’t change soon, the long-term consequences for the country’s survival are just too dire to contemplate.
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