EDITORIAL: Distrusting government can go too far
Distrust of government is in our national DNA. Anything that taxes us, tells us what we can't do, is distant, messy and full of politicians, is hard to love. But if the federal government is evil - the noisy conventional wisdom in some circles today - then it's a necessary evil.
The current skirmish in the long battle over government's proper size and role is important. But the debate has crescendoed just when the nation must confront major challenges, like reining in Wall Street, retooling the economy for a greener future and keeping Social Security and Medicare solvent.
If this frustration and anger with big government - and the nasty tone of the current political debate - result in big challenges going unmet, then we'll all lose. If the American people, acting through their elected representatives, can't find pragmatic responses to the nation's problems, how will they ever be solved?
A recent Pew Research Center poll captured the moment. It found "a perfect storm of conditions associated with the distrust of government - a dismal economy, an unhappy public, bitter partisan-based backlash and epic discontent with Congress and elected officials."
Fewer than a quarter of those polled March 11 to 21 said they trust government in Washington almost always or most of the time. About half said the federal government has a negative impact on their lives. A third said government has the wrong priorities. And a similar percentage view the federal government as a major threat to their personal freedom.
A sour view of government is an American staple. After all, the nation was born in rebellion against taxes imposed by the British government. And, made wary by state power in Europe, the founders crafted the Bill of Rights for the express purpose of limiting government authority. They barred any law that prohibits the free exercise of religion, or that abridges the freedom of speech, press and assembly. They protected the right to bear arms, and prohibited unreasonable search and seizure. They clearly wanted to put government on a leash.
Today that distrust extends beyond government to other big institutions. Only a quarter of those polled said the federal government has a positive effect on the way things are going in the country. But the ratings were nearly as low for financial institutions, large corporations, labor unions, the national news media and the entertainment industry.
It isn't all gloom and doom. Large majorities said that small businesses, tech firms, churches and universities have a positive effect. But the American public is clearly feeling dyspeptic, and with some reason.
Wages have been stagnant for a decade. Jobs have moved offshore. The divide between the rich and the rest is widening. Traditional pensions are disappearing. There's an unrelenting threat of new terror attacks.
And that was before the financial crisis hit, costing millions of people their homes and jobs, gouging nesteggs, forcing many to downsize college and career ambitions, and plunging the nation into the Great Recession. Washington has spent hundreds of billions of tax dollars bailing out big banks, insurance giant AIG, General Motors and Chrysler, and hundreds of billions more to stimulate the moribund economy.
While necessary to stave off disaster, buying into banks and automakers was an unprecedented expansion of government's role in the private sector. Though President Barack Obama has long insisted that he wants out of those industries as soon as possible, it won't happen soon.
Those troubled companies have survived. Some have even repaid their government loans. And there are hopeful signs of economic recovery.
But some of the banks that taxpayers bailed out - even though their risky behavior ignited the crisis - are back to huge profits and eye-popping bonuses. Meanwhile, people are still losing their homes, millions owe more than their houses are worth, and jobs have been achingly slow to return.
For many, that's evidence enough that Washington takes care of the rich and powerful - those who contribute to campaigns - and leaves the rest of us to fend for ourselves. Large majorities told Pew that officials in Washington pay too little attention to the middle class, care only about their careers, are influenced by special interests, and are unwilling to compromise, profligate and out of touch.
It's enough to make some people mad. Enter the tea party, an amorphous collection of people discontented for a variety of reasons. The rhetoric of some members is overblown. And calls to "take back our country" have ugly undertones, particularly when accompanied by irrational attacks on the legitimacy of the nation's first African-American president.
But underlying the foment is a gnawing fear that the American dream is dying. The belief that if you work hard and play by the rules, you'll prosper, is under assault. So is the notion that each generation can expect to live better than the one before.
The tea party demonstrators may lay more blame for that on government than is warranted. But uneasiness about the future extends beyond that movement. So does cynicism about government, which could cripple efforts to shape a better tomorrow. A little cynicism is healthy. An overdose would be poison. hN
