In Whom Do You Trust?

Do you basically trust your government?

 

I’ve not conducted any kind of polling on the question, but I feel confident in assuming that the vast majority of people would vote “No” on the subject. So the next question becomes “why?” I think I’ve come up with 2 basic reasons why. There may be others and I may be wrong, but I think I’m on the right track.

 

This question started stirring in me the other night while watching Fringe on my DVR. If you haven’t seen it, the show is about a secret govt. organization working to investigate strange phenomena. The show isn’t overtly anti-government, but it did get me thinking. When was the last time you watched a show in which the government was doing something noble? Think about that for a second. The government is always depicted as these old powerful guys secretly plotting to hide things from us, take things from us and do things to us. I tried to think of a book, TV program, movie, music or any media or entertainment outlet which promoted a positive governmental outlook, but I couldn’t think of one.

 

Even if you do find a show that has a character who is trying to “do the right thing”, he is usually an outsider. Take the movie “Dave” for example. The main character in that movie isn’t really an elected official, he’s a look alike brought in to trick people into thinking the President is still viable. Sure he tries to be a good citizen, but there’s no way he would have had he actually been elected. At least that seems to be the overriding message of Hollywood.

 

So if every image we see depicting our government reinforces the stereotype that all government is evil, why wouldn’t we assume that the government can’t be trusted?

Then I came to my second conclusion. Maybe we don’t trust the government because deep down, we don’t trust ourselves. Do we think our Mayors, Senators and Presidents are trying to pull one over on us because that’s what we would do if we were in that position? I think the answer may be “yes”. It’s interesting to me that many of the people whom I’ve met that are always complaining about someone else trying to screw them over are the same ones who are trying to do the screwing themselves. In fact the more they protest, it seems, the more unethical they tend to be. I think people who basically trust themselves, will basically trust others.

 

Here’s the interesting thing though… I work in an environment where I deal with local government agencies every day. Despite the onslaught of negative press, I’ve never met one official whom I thought was trying to screw his constituency. Sure there have been guys (and gals) that I’ve gotten along with better than others. There have been people with whom I didn’t agree with on a particular policy. But, there’s never been one who I knew personally, and I’ve known and met dozens, that was trying to get one over on the “dumb” public. They all have worked to do the best job they could in their respective positions to serve the public good.

 

Now don’t run me to the extreme here. Just like any organization be it the government, church, a corporation or even your own household, there will be people inside that group who are corrupt and who do intend selfish and sometimes evil works. Because we know this, it is good and healthy to keep a skeptical eye on those in power to ensure that we find those folks who would do wrong and punish them. We are pooling our leaders from the pool of ourselves though are we not? So, the questions you might ask yourself are, “Is it fair to assume all men in power are evil?””Why do I assume that?” and “Would I be evil if I were in charge?”