Mother Should I Trust the Government?
Question:Â what does it mean that “The Government” has such a low trust rating?
Well, one thing is that the Trust Rating at its height — the fat complacent and comfortable Eisenhower years — was an absurd inflation. There were just as many, if not more, reasons, to distrust the Government at that point in time than there are now.
The next problem is this sort of question of what precisely does this mean? The Government is not a monolithic entity. I don’t want to ever say that I Trust such a thing, but I do “trust” this thing in it and that thing in it. Meantime, I kind of just have to resent the question, because to answer it is to know that analysts will be making broad conclusions with the numbers. Look at it this way: you know I.F. Stone? A great Leftist man. Last year he was embroiled into a long-standing controversy with various right-wing and conservative Honchos shouting in triumph a supposed “confirmation” that he was a Soviet Spy! Meantime, there’s a pretty good quote that I see bandied about from various Libertarians — “All Governments Lie.” To wit, he would answer the question with a negative. And his answer heads into an entirely different direction than — say — this clown.
Meantime, go down the list. Nobody trusts a damned Authority in their lives right now. The Republican Senate front runner, Sue Lowden — spells out a matter of government authority by coming out in favor of the Barter System as a different tact than the “Massive Government Take-over” of Obama’s Health Insurance Reform. Interesting devolution for Collateral being put up for Big Business. And what can we say about Organized Religion? The Catholic Church is not inspiring much trust right now. And Islam is busy picking a fight with South Park for reasons neglected before 9/11. Works well enough — remain skeptical — Trust But Verify, Verify before Trust, etc etc.