In 2009, I wrote a book titled “Distrust, American Style.” The publisher’s blurb summed up its theme: “When people wake up every morning to a system that doesn’t respond to their efforts or accomodate their most basic needs, it should not be surprising that they don’t face the day with an abundance of trust.”
Declining trust has ominous implications for something that sociologists call social capital--the relationships among members of society that facilitate individual and/or collective action. The term refers to networks of human relationships that are characterized by reciprocity and trust. As one scholarly paper has put it, social capital is the lubricant that facilitates getting things done, that allows people to work together and benefit from social relationships. It is absolutely essential to the internal coherence of society– the “glue” that facilitates social and economic functioning.
It isn’t really necessary to understand the functioning and varieties of social capital to understand the importance of trust. Think about your daily activities: you drop your favorite sweater off at the cleaners, trusting that it will be returned–clean. You deposit your paycheck in your bank, trusting that the funds will be credited to your account and available to spend. You pick up a prescription, trusting that the medication has been properly prepared and is safe. At the grocery, you trust that food you buy is safe to eat. You board a plane, trusting that it will not crash into another mid-air.
You get the picture. In the absence of trust, society and the economy cannot function. And an enormous amount of that trust is based upon effective and competent government regulation of banks, food processors and air traffic (among other things).
In my book, I examined the decline of social trust, and the theories being offered for that decline. Robert Putnam suggested that growing diversity had eroded interpersonal trust; my own research pointed to a different culprit: the prominent failures of religious, business and governmental institutions. When I wrote the book, America was in the midst of widely-reported scandals: Enron and other major companies engaging in illegal activities, sports figures taking performance-enhancing drugs, the Catholic Church covering up priestly child molestation, and several others. We were just emerging from an Iraq war widely understood to have been waged on specious grounds.
My conclusion was that fish rot from the head–that when a citizenry is no longer able to trust its economic and governing and religious institutions–especially its governing institutions– that lack of trust threatens essential elements of social functioning.
In the years since, our entire environment has become rife with distrust. White Christian Nationalists suspect and reject most elements of modernity; we’re faced with the enormous gap between the rich and the rest (and evidence that not all the rich amassed those fortunes ethically or legally); we have a rogue judiciary, a castrated Congress, and most recently a federal coup by mentally-ill autocrats intent upon destroying the government agencies that have been most effective at earning citizens’ trust.
A recent Gallup Poll surveyed the trust landscape, to determine who we still trust–and who we don’t.
Three in four Americans consider nurses highly honest and ethical, making them the most trusted of 23 professions rated in Gallup’s annual measurement. Grade-school teachers rank second, with 61% viewing them highly, while military officers, pharmacists and medical doctors also earn high trust from majorities of Americans.
The least trusted professions, with more than half of U.S. adults saying their ethics are low or very low, are lobbyists, members of Congress and TV reporters.
Of the remaining occupations measured in the Dec. 2-18, 2024, poll, six (including police officers, clergy and judges) are viewed more positively than negatively by Americans, although with positive ratings not reaching the majority level. The other nine, notably including bankers, lawyers and business executives, are seen more negatively than positively, with more than 50% rating their ethics low.
That poll was conducted before the takeover of our government by Trump and Musk, before the clearly illegal, unethical and untruthful activities that have–in Steve Bannon’s immortal words–“flooded the zone with shit.” Even before that assault, Gallup reported that there had been a serious long-term decline in Americans’ confidence in U.S. institutions. Trust in Judges, police and clergy has plummeted.
In that 2009 book, I wrote that the trustworthiness of business and nonprofit enterprises depends on the ability of government to play its essential role as “umpire,’ impartially applying and reliably enforcing the rules. When government is not trustworthy, when citizens cannot rely on the Food and Drug Administration, the FAA or the Social Security Administration, among others, trust and social capital decline.
We’re back to Hobbes’ state of nature.
Sheila,
I do agree with the social capital issue, just like we always hear about the political capital someone might have. When Dr Anthony Fauci was lambasted by idiots complaining about conspiracy theories and how the government was looking to kill off people on purpose. Now, I know that the government will take out people that they don’t like, people that they feel are an existential threat, look at John F Kennedy. His assassination was more than likely a CIA job. Whether officially sanctioned or some renegade collaboration, and then they could blame it on the mobsters. The thing is, why would mobsters assassinate the president of the United States? That would just bring way too much heat. But hey, there’s a dyed in the wool conspiracy.
Politicians and religious leaders are usually the ones that get the ball rolling with the social capital issue, who should have it and who should not. And it’s all about gaining power and authority. Is there any logical reason why politicians are acting the way we see today? The things that they say, things they claim, things that they refuse to refute?
They have made a society of mistrust, they’ve made a society of alternate realities, they’ve made a society of moral turpitude where there is no cohesiveness, just like the feet of iron and clay mentioned in Daniel. It’s partially strong, and partially weak. If the feet are the foundation of a society so to speak, and the feet are weakened, it takes the entirety of society with it when it collapses.
I recall, way back, my uncle Tommy, whose son is a priest at the Joliet archdiocese, received a call from a relative who’s son was hit in the head by an ashtray thrown out the window of the living quarters where medical students were supposed to be getting trained. The young man’s head was split wide open, And he almost died. So Uncle Tommy and the police officers and others who were of the unsavory type, met up and waited for these guys to do that again. And when the windows opened, and they wanted the kids to be quiet, stuff would start flying out the window. This time though, there was about 20 men holding rifles and pistols pointing up at the windows. That was the last time anything was thrown at the kids. These are the ones who became doctors, these are the ones who were supposed to be trusted, but they thought they were above the repercussions they would end up reaping for what they did.
The reason I bring that up, is that this has been brewing for a long time. Social security was destroyed by Ronald Reagan. The mental health system was destroyed by Nixon. Slowly but surely, they nibble, sometimes in perceptively and other times with bold proclamations. The Iran Contra affair, should have had Reagan impeached. But it also opened the door to more drugs flooding into the country because they use the money for his subversive and clandestine operations. Why? Because imperfect and self-serving men have imperfect and self-serving leanings. And now, when they get into a position of great authority, they can do what they please! Unfortunately, those cojones of those who are supposed to balance the playing field have turned into shriveled raisins.
Now, the authority which would be the upper echelon of politics and religious circles, have much more power almost unlimited. And it’s going to get worse down the line. The reason I say that, is it happened in Rome, it happened in Greece, it happened in Babylon, it happened in the medes and Persians it happened in Egypt, it happened in the British empire. Why not here? History shows that eventually it will, and, it has!
Things might seem functional for a while. And there’ll be enough red meat to stifle the resentment of the followers. But once they finally realized that they have stabbed themselves all over with many pains, it will be too late. And that’s a sad thing.
Just with this tariff issue, someone who unilaterally decides to impose all of these things on other countries, and then, tell those that you’ve bamboozled about lowering the prices of groceries and products, that they have to hang in there for a while. The things might get a little worse before they get better. But he sure didn’t say that in the beginning! Now, hang in there, I’m working on it. Hey, why aren’t the showers working? Oh we’re working on it!
But those with an alternate viewpoint on those who are in authority, those that want to be an authority, have no message whatsoever. And you can think, why not? You can scream why not! And it is mind-bogglingly weak, no cohesiveness, sailing like a rudderless ship. So you think it’s going to get better? What is history say? It says, it will go down in a rapid fashion when you least expect it. That’s where discernment comes in. If you have no knowledge, you have no wisdom, you have no conscience, then you cannot possess discernment or efficacy. But, there can be a shared commonality of turpitude in a moral sense.
Those who claimed to be woke, had their eyes opened but could not see. Like that movie with Tom Cruise, eyes wide shut. As long as you feel that you will come out with what little bit you need to survive, everyone else can be dropped into the ocean. And when all of those are gone, they’ve all met their maker so to speak, they will start working on their own, to really clear everything out for those that they desire to rule. And absolutely there will be a slave class, you saw what was going on after the election, didn’t you? People were getting text messages to report to plantations and factories! So the mindset is there, and when they tell you who they are and what they’re going to do you better believe it! Because, it’s going to happen whether you believe it or not.
For me and mine, if it has to do with their protection, there’s plenty of possibilities. But I’ll leave that to someone else to ponder!
The feet of iron and clay
refers to a symbolic image in the Book of Daniel, specifically in Daniel 2:33-45, where a statue with a head of gold, silver, bronze, and iron legs, and feet of iron and clay, represents the succession of kingdoms and empires in world history, culminating in a mixed and ultimately fragile final kingdom.
John Sorg’s eloquence today will be hard to top by anyone. Our collective lack of trust, accumulated over decades, has given us what seems to be the ultimate finger in our societal eye: Donald Trump and Elon Musk. These two idiots will destroy everything they touch just to say they could do it. Then what?
We should all trust them and their decisions. Yeah. Sure. Some strong leadership needs to present itself very soon, or we will be truly lost as a nation, a democracy and a people. Flag waving won’t do it. Fawning creatures like Pam Bondi (The assassin) must be eliminated by our people who actually pay attention.
How do we do that? How do we regain our societal trust?
The other day, the treasury released an inflation report that basically had good news, but after Trump‘s comments a week or two ago about a bad GDP forecast it made me wonder if the treasury report didn’t get fudged by the current administration. It’s probably the first time I’ve seen one of those reports and distrusted what it said, so yes, distrust in the government might be at an all-time high.
Another fundamental structure in society is the spectrum between competition and collaboration. The aim of competition is to win, and entertainment media advertises for it almost 24/7. Let’s face it: entertainment media has overtaken socialization in these times.
Even crime is competition and entertainment media is the scoreboard for that too. Politics too.
However, we all know that collaboration works best among humans. Examples are neighborhoods, teams, people at peace, and functional families.
It’s not just trust. I trust Orange Jesus to always do what he deems best for him. If the world goes to hell in a handbasket, that’s okay. I also trust Congressional Republicans to bow before their king. I wonder if any of them have read the Constitution. I trust the Democrats to shoot themselves in the foot at every opportunity.
Maybe I’m a cynic. As I see it, the problem isn’t trust, the problem is us. We the people are unwilling to do the work necessary to have a government for the people. We need to focus on the third of us who don’t understand why their vote matters.
Overall, we the people, do have the government we deserve. We don’t have to like it. We do have to recognize it. We do have to work harder to get to the non-voters.
Words and actions. We have survived periodic bouts with political leaders who have used words to mask their actions. Like most things politics has evolved. It appears to me that evolution has taken us to a place where it no longer matters to a (slim) majority of active voters that the candidates for the highest offices in the US no longer need to pretend they give a damn about their voters; they can win using gerrymander, voter suppression and bald-faced lies. And like the candidates, their supporters don’t give a damn about themselves.
Sorg nailed it this morning. And Pete, the collaboration (socialism) versus competition (capitalism) was the basis for Einstein’s dictum in 1949. He declared the game of monopoly over and it was time to clear the board. We’ve marched on for over 75 years. Do you think it has corrected itself or gotten worse?
Whitney’s book clearly demonstrates the merger between business, the government, and the underworld figures and how they control the political class. It’s hilarious because she mentions Lew Wasserman as one of the underworld’s bosses who owned Ronald Reagan. If you search for him today, he is a God-like figure of Hollywood – a “mogul.” No mention of his mob connections. Who owns our mainstream media today? LOL
Is it a coincidence that many Hollywood and musical giants were on board Jeffrey Epstein’s Lolita Express? LOL
She started around the 20s and 30s, but I am sure the corruption returned long before our inception. As Sorg put it, a pattern of humanity repeats itself because humans rarely learn from their mistakes. Also, he who hath the gold makes the rules. As we see with Musk specifically, those who are rich are not necessarily the most ethical leaders. They don’t even have to be very bright. His posts on X told me all I needed to know long ago. He says all the personal and professional attacks against him and his businesses are due to him switching political parties. He says democrats are after him! LOL
It has nothing to do with his DOGE outfit tearing up the federal government and threatening millions of Americans and Europeans’ livelihoods. LOL He is even more unenlightened than Trump. These are the pillars of the oligarchy and we are in trouble as a result.
Peggy;
I think that you have a basic misconception of the meaning of “trust.”
You listed a number of examples where the word “trust” should really be replaced with the word “expect.” Try reading your comments with that substitution. I think you will find that the meaning is the same.
“Trust,” on the other hand has a much deeper meaning. It means that we not only expect other parties to do something, but that we are confident that the things they do are in the common interest. As an example: when we get on an airplane, we not only expect the air traffic controllers to keep our plane from hitting another plane, we are trusting them to do so. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t get on the plane.
A subtle but significant difference.
There has been in recent years another display of mistrust for all to see. It is the mistrust of the voters by their own government. That mistrust shows itself by the rise in personal security for elected and appointed government officials at taxpayer expense. Bodyguards are everywhere.
After flooding the country with guns, tearing down the social safety net, and fanning the flames of hatred between the various factions of society those so called leaders cannot trust that the people will not now come and storm their castles.
Theresa,
A new poll out today shows that the favorability of Democrats is at an all-time LOW. Schumer and all the other Washington dolts aren’t convincing anyone with their performative acts on the TV.
And the evidence for your point is in a Guardian article today where Americans and Europeans are violently attacking Tesla dealerships. Some are using Molotov cocktails and rifles. Others are using Kraft cheese singles, dogshit, and other feces, along with spray painting swastikas on the cars.
An investment manager with lots of money invested in Tesla, would like to see Musk get out of the DOGE business quickly. LOL
Every action and inaction has consequences.
CGH is right about Peggy’s “trust,” a simple misunderstanding.
I expect Trump and Musk to do awful things, and I do not trust either of them one whit. I’ve seen articles proclaiming that though Trump claimed he’d do this, or that, he has done the opposite. Why anyone could have taken him at his word 99.9% of the time is beyond me. When he told the fools that “If you vote for me, you’ll never have to vote again,” he was telling his truth. “Dictator on day one?” Yeah!
And, sadly, as has been pointed out, the country got what it deserved.
Thanks Vern, thanks Todd!
A little long, well a lot long, lol, but I always believe in sharing context. Everyone has a conscience in some form or fashion. But does that conscience represent knowledge and wisdom? Having the efficacy of discernment, instead of having a conscience polluted by turpitude which sours a person’s discernment, takes work! Politicians should be judged by their works, religious leaders should be judged by their works, and they actually are, just not visible to us right now.
Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol pot, Just about every pope, just about every rabbi or imam, or teacher, has been complicit in the massacres of humanity. So, if you want to plan some action, realize, it will be an extremely bloody statement. The initial retaliation will be a bloodletting.
I like the differentiation of trust from expectation. I expect all the fine folk who write the comments above will do something positive today to make our society better.
I do not trust that they will.
Who does the country trust? Why not ask about these: celebrities, sports heroes, social media influencers, etc. ?
Ill just leave it where Sheila put it. My wife and I are from big city,lifestyle enviromants. she central valley Calif, me NY/NJ metro area. now living in nowhere NoDak. weve lived near this small town for 23 years. we missed nothing there. we dont associate with the locals past the bank and USPO. we went into a bar one nite and was met with questions and stuff that doesnt make any diffrence in anyones life.we made a mistake of kissing and wound up with, go get a room.. he got the finger i was 5 feet from him.. we have watched this small town of ignorance become the bedrock of why the christian etcs have their play.the cafes are tuned to POX news and social matters that only attest to they have been nowher and done nothing except be in thier own way. I have no religion, and have little to give on the subject. but when confronted, i stand my ground. yes,they dont like it one bit i do not believe and it has led to a few heated arguments in public. NoDak is pure one way or no way. i live outside of town on a farm site. My Bernie for prez banner was my entry to this piece of home. i rent, my landlord is cool, and respects my caretaker status and being someone he can trust. it ends there.
You are a good man Jack! You tell it like it is.