In my last post I ventured into academic territory about which I know very little (Psychology) and may have/probably did misrepresent a theory (Gestalt Psychology) in my attempt to formulate arguments regarding our perception of social phenomena. That was a stretch. I’ll now return to a topic about which I’m much more familiar: political stuff.

I’m cynical, and I’m not alone.

According to a June Pew Research Center poll:

• Only 20% of Americans trust the government in Washington to do the right thing.

• About 6% say the federal government carefully spends our tax dollars and 94% disagree.

• When asked if the government responds to the needs of ordinary Americans only 8% agree.

• An unsurprising 61% say government does too much for high-income Americans.

• Only 29% of Democrats and 9% of Republicans say they trust the government most of the time.

• And finally, 65% say that when individuals seek public office on the local, state, or national level they do so out of self-interest rather than serving citizens.

Similarly, a recent Gallup Poll found that:

• Only 43% of Americans have some trust in the executive branch, 47% had some trust in the judiciary, and 38% had some trust in the legislature.

• Only 34% had some trust in media.

• Only 19% said they trust Washington to do what is right (this mirrors the first bullet above).

Let me summarize: Americans don’t trust their government or the information available to us. Gee…I wonder why. Could it be stories such as these?

• Transporation Secretary Pete Buttigieg flying on private planes at taxpayer expense rather than taking commercial flights while also expressing concern regarding greenhouse gases.

• The former Grifter in Chief trying to make a buck by selling digital trading cards for only $99, yes… only $99!, to his gullible supporters. But wait! You may also qualify to join the former president for dinner (at your own expense, of course)!

• When at least 77 members of both parties in Congress recently violated a ban on insider trading, a ban which they passed!

• A former president saying “I did not have sex with that woman” when, in fact, he did just that.

A list of such incidents would fill volumes. We know many politicians and political figures are often less than honest, but I don’t think that fully explains our distrust in government. To be clear, we have always been cynical about the government and political figures, but polls indicate our trust has steadily declined in recent decades. As I’m sure you anticipate, I think our increased cynicism is warranted.

In the 1960’s we became involved in the Vietnam War, and we were lied to throughout that entire debacle. On the heels of the Vietnam War President Nixon and crew became enmeshed in the Watergate scandal, one of America’s darkest episodes. During the 1980 presidential campaign a debate book was stolen from the Carter campaign and given to Ronald Reagan. In the 1980’s the Reagan Administration was involved in the Iran Contra scandal in which the administration violated several federal laws. In 1992 President George H.W. Bush pardoned four of the Iran-Contra conspirators, essentially ending investigations. During the Clinton presidency Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy was indicted for illegally accepting gifts. A number of Barack Obama’s underlings resigned during his eight years because of various scandals, and you can well imagine the number of Trump-era scandals. You get the idea. Click on this Wikipedia link listing American political scandals only if you have a strong stomach.

Scandals in American politics are certainly not new, but for the first time in history we know much more about them that ever before because of mass media.

But I think our cynicism is consequent to more than scandals; the government’s lack of transparency also fosters mistrust. Our government’s unwillingness to release information on what are probably minor issues such as the decades-long secrecy regarding UFO’s (now referred to as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) makes even the most trusting American question motives. Then, just yesterday, upon the direction of President Biden, the National Archives released more records related to the JFK assassination as required by a 1992 law, but guess what…many of the records were highly redacted and many have NOT yet been released in violation of the 1992 law (there IS much more to the assassination than we know).

We need leaders we can trust to tell us the truth and to represent our interests. As with most problems I discuss in these pages, one solution is taking money out of politics, and that requires changes in laws and a Supreme Court willing to change its mind that it is OK for powerful lobby groups to buy politicians. Politicians should represent voters rather than oil interests, media companies, labor unions, or other groups wealthy enough to buy influence.

The other solution is an “enlightened citizenry” as envisioned by Thomas Jefferson. In 1936 the Supreme Court stated that “an informed public is the most potent of all restraints upon misgovernment”. However, being informed requires us to stop buying all the misinformation we are fed by the 24-hour news cycle, and that takes a great deal of effort.