Distrust of government?

Shannon Bohrer

(9/2023) The distrust of the American government by its own citizens has a long history. A valid assumption would be that it started when we were a colony ruled by the King of England. That distrust eventually resulted in our democracy. Distrust of your government is not necessarily a bad thing, with free speech and a free press we as citizens, at least theoretically have some influence on our government.

While freedom of speech allows us to complain about the government there is a line between what is protected speech and speech that can have consequences. The adage that one cannot yell fire in a theater is commonly used as an example of prohibited speech. The reality is that yelling fire in a theater that is on fire, is allowed. Lately we have heard political arguments supporting free speech, even when the speech involves suspected crimes. Some people apparently think the country is on fire.

The distrust and free speech that we have is also reflected in the often-heard jokes about our ineffective government. Many of the disparaging remarks are from politicians, who are theoretically running the show. President Reagan said that "the most terrifying words in the English language are; I’m from the government and I’m here to help." He also said that "government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." Strange, for someone that was elected president, did he really have such a distrust in Government?

Yet, while we make jokes about how bad our government is, if someone does not stand for the national anthem they are labeled as unpatriotic. We complain about our government, then defend it. We want everyone to stand for the national anthem, say the pledge of allegiance, respect the military, the police, and firefighters, then we turn around and complain about the same government. It is like a love-hate relationship.

While we complain about the government, we also tout American exceptionalism, as if we are different than other free societies. It can seem incongruous that we think of ourselves as exceptional and simultaneously find fault with the country that is exceptional, if that makes sense. Many believe that American is great, not because of the government, but because of capitalism. A common belief, at least with the complainers, is the idea that private industry is efficient and government is bloated and inefficient. There is a continuing idea that to promote capitalism we need to get government out of the way. Many believe that capitalism made this country a leader in the world, making us exceptional.

Capitalism is touted as being more effective than government, because of competition. The idea is that competing businesses need to be efficient to be competitive, which should benefit society. However, at the turn of the 20th century, there was a lack of competition, because the so-called robber barons created monopolies. Unbridled capitalism at the turn of the 20th century created problems. There was a middle class, that was small and a smaller wealthy class, called the robber barons. Most of the population was poor. In that sense capitalism at that time was good for a few, but not for the masses.

Responding to the robber barons’ monopolies, the government stepped in with anti-trust laws, and broke up the companies that had no or little competition. This created real competition that helped capitalism flourish. After which, private industry flourished. It seemed that capitalism works well with competition. So, is American exceptional because of capitalism, or because the government broke up the monopolies?

Capitalism has made other mistakes. The great depression, the one in the 1930s, was caused by fiscal mismanagement in private industry. It was the government and government programs that got the country through the hard times, by creating laws, like the "Glass Steagall Act" that limited speculative risk-taking investments by main street banks. It was also the government that instituted Social Security, a protection for retired citizens. President Roosevelt was often criticized for creating social programs that benefited the poor. The complaints from capitalists in the 1930’s was that the government was overregulating private industry and was creating a socialist society.

The same complaints about socialism still existed years later. President Harry Truman once addressed the issue, "All of you, I am sure, have heard many cries about Government interference with business and about ‘creeping socialism.’ I should like to remind the gentleman who make these complaints that if events had been allowed to continue as they were going prior to March 4, 1933, most of them would have no businesses left for the Government or anyone else to interfere with – and almost surely, we would have socialism in this country, real socialism." Of course, we continue to hear the same arguments today.

Early in the 1970s, prior to the clean air and clean water act, our air and waters were heavily polluted by private industry. A list of over 17,000 hazardous waste sites was created. Remember the love canal, the infamous site in New York, polluted because of toxic chemicals being dumped by private industry. It took 21 years to clean the site. Today, we have over 40,000 super fund sites, all created by private industries. What would the country look like without the Environmental Protection Agency? Private capitalism can and does work for the benefit of the country, when regulated. Unregulated it can harm and even kill the citizens.

The dislike of our government goes beyond the labeling of being bloated and ineffective. The public’s trust has been eroding for years. In a 1964 poll, 64 percent "said that the government was run for the benefit of all." In a 2022 poll, only 20 percent of the respondents "say they trust the government in Washington to do the right thing, just about always or most of the time…" What happened during those sixty years?

The love-hate relationship we have with our government can be confusing. Without the government, would we still have monopolies and robber barons. Social Security and Medicare would not exist, and our air and water would still be polluted.

"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government." Thomas Jefferson