During an in-class discussion we as a class talked about how many of the things that make citizens distrust authorities are scandals, conspiracies, and violations of morals. And I was intrigued by this idea that we don't trust the government because of a series of isolated events. My intrigue came as a result of looking at the data from Pew's Research Center. I noticed a correlation: Whenever the unemployment rate was high, trust of government was high, and vice versa (You can see this for yourself by clicking on the data set).
What I'm interested to know is: Do you think that public distrust is more related to scandals, or poor economy? Or perhaps a different cause? What is the primary reason for our general lack of trust and faith in the government?
I think that that is pretty interesting. I tend to think that the distrust is related more to scandals and wars and such, but there is definitely a high correlation between the unemployment rate and the public distrust. Maybe it is just because things like wars or scandals cause the unemployment rate to go up.
ReplyDeleteI think that that is pretty interesting. I tend to think that the distrust is related more to scandals and wars and such, but there is definitely a high correlation between the unemployment rate and the public distrust. Maybe it is just because things like wars or scandals cause the unemployment rate to go up.
ReplyDeleteThe public can get pretty antsy when the government doesn't follow through with what the people have asked. I think that the public doesn't understand the government and therefore considers it strange or annoying when things happen that the people didn't ask for. There is so little involvement in the political structure of this country that the people are stupid enough to think that it is all the governments fault, this causes the mistrust and moments of being 'deceived'.
ReplyDeleteI would think that things like wars would make unemployment rate go down, at least in the past they would have. Both World Wars stimulated our economy tremendously but wars since then haven't done that. I think that as times are changing with technology, with availability of information and ease to do things which used to be quite difficult, has led us to a distrust in government. The way things work now compared to the way they used to is different. History goes in circles, some say, but these last circles were different. Wars made unemployment go up rather than down and people, who didn't expect that, blamed the government.
ReplyDeleteI think its a combo of both unemployment and scandals. People want the government to be invincible so they are disappointed when it isn't. There are also a lot of people out there that aren't involved and that makes it even more frustrating when they complain because they didn't do anything to fix it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Allynn, that trust can be hurt badly when the government says they will do something and doesn't follow through. It is hard when they say that something will happen or change and it doesn't, or when they do something that isn't ethical (Watergate, Iran-Contra Affair).
ReplyDeleteI think as different opinions become popular, views change. People sometimes, without realizing it, tend to follow the path of least resistance which is not always the best path. But I think that both definitely play a large role in the distrust of government. When the public is in times of distress they look to the government to get them out of it, but when we are in good times and we start heading downhill everyone looks for a scapegoat, and the government provides that scapegoat very well.
ReplyDeleteEconomic issues may very well be a leading cause of distrust of government. The failure of the government to meet its citizen's needs may cause those citizens to no longer trust the government to do so in the future. While I do not agree that it's the leading cause, it's probably a significant factor.
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