By Rob Meyne
- Jan. 27, 2024
- 4-min read
The portion of Americans who trust the government to do the right thing has plummeted to historic lows. Less than 20% of us trust the government. The other 80% might ask “are you not paying attention?”
It takes a willingness to ignore facts, and reject common sense, to believe much of what the government tells us. This is true for all levels of government, but particularly nationally.
This is not the same thing as saying the government never tells the truth. Sometimes it does. But every sentient creature in America should view governmental messages with skepticism and do their own homework before determining what is true.
Pew comments on the lack of trust in government:
“Public trust in the federal government, which has been low for decades, has returned to near record lows following a modest uptick in 2020 and 2021. Currently, fewer than two-in-ten Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (1%) or “most of the time” (15%). This is among the lowest trust measures in nearly seven decades of polling. Last year, 20% said they trusted the government just about always or most of the time.”
The real question, today, is why WOULD you trust the government?
The Gallup survey shows, unsurprisingly, that Americans trust their local government much more than the federal.
This is a fairly good rule of thumb. If all politicians should be viewed with skepticism – all PEOPLE should be viewed with some healthy skepticism – certainly, it is easier to learn about your local office holders than those who work in area code 202 and spend their nights at places like the Capital Grille.
A related, and hugely important, question is what media should we trust? The quick answer is “not many.” But here is another good rule of thumb: you should put more trust in people who encourage you to personally learn about issues than those who discourage it. You will likely never hear someone from MSNBC or CNN telling you to learn about things for yourself. That is the mark of a news outlet that is more interested in propaganda than truth.
You should not trust, or even respect, anyone who says you are not smart enough to understand, or it is too complicated, or you just need to “trust us.” Screw that. The people I trust are those who encourage me to get better informed. And some major news organizations do precisely the opposite. A Washington Post headline recently said you are likely to be misled and ill-informed if you try to learn on your own. Note to self: do not trust anyone who says you do not need to learn for yourself.
By contrast, consider the Blaze. The Blaze does a lot of original reporting. It also carries a vast variety of programming from personalities who provide intelligent and well-researched reporting and commentary.
Importantly, the founder of the Blaze, Glenn Beck, encourages us, his audience, NOT to take anything said on the Blaze as gospel. He WANTS us to do our own research, to learn, to consider other opinions, and to understand why those who disagree with us believe as they do. THAT is the sign of a person who is honestly trying to have informed and constructive discussions.
Beck is also as diligent as anyone in providing the sources for the information he conveys. He never says, “just trust me.” And THAT is the kind of person you CAN trust.
If you cannot list a half dozen things the government has told us recently that turned out to be false, think about it for five minutes, do a little research, and you will find them.
Government told us the Covid vaccine would mean you could not get it or pass it on to others, and that turned out to be false. They told us you needed to keep six feet away from others, and last week Fauci admitted that number was just made up. They told us it did not come from a laboratory, and yet now most intelligence sources say it probably did. Or consider the border: The Biden Administration has been telling us the border is secure, even as it could not be clearer it was not. That was a lie, but it was also insulting.
Biden even said he got a measure to forgive student loan debt through Congress by a couple of votes. The reality is such a bill was never even considered. Biden just granted himself the power to forgive student debt, even though he has previously said he did not have the constitutional authority to do so. The whole point about congressional action on this was just made up. Or perhaps he is so mentally challenged, so senescent, that he did not even know he was lying.
We should be happy to have officials at all levels of government held accountable for what they say. Each party and candidate should be held accountable for their lies. The problem is that most of the time, the feds, in this administration, are seldom held accountable for anything. The future of our nation depends on our willingness to change that.
