Trusting the Government

This piece hypothesizes America's long-term distrust in government by visiting past events.

On September 17, 1787, the Constitution was signed. It states the government is responsible for establishing Justice, insuring domestic Tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general Welfare, and securing the Blessings of Liberty, yet it never mentions ensuring trust with its citizens. During the 1950s the first National Election Survey was conducted questioning if Americans trust the federal government, and more than half of those participants held trust in their government.¹ Since then the number of believers in the government only dropped, hitting its lowest in September 2011 under the presidency of Barack Obama. Some argue there must be faith in government in order for it to work, and to understand faith in government it must be known that trust is merely an idea, not a fact. Not every point made will gratify the audience.

Before he was sworn to office in 1969, Richard Nixon promised he would reach out to America’s middle class and ensure peace in the homeland despite ongoing civil rights movements. Nixon was trusted by Americans for he served as vice president under John Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, but in 1972, America’s trust in the government was shattered. Nixon, a Republican, was accused of involvement in a burglary of the Democratic National Election Headquarters. White House officials denied involvement, but according to Biography.com, FBI quickly confirmed the burglars affiliation with Nixon as they served in CREEP (the Committee to Re-Elect the President). President Nixon had robbed the opposing party of important information, paid the burglars to keep quiet, and despite releasing most recordings taken in the Oval Office he refused to release other sensitive recordings and evidence. Nixon resigned and appointed officials to Gerald Ford after Spiro Agnew resigned for tax evasion, bribery, and extortion.⁴ The Watergate scandal rocked America's trust in politicians and the political process and carved a new path in media. As Federal Times editor Jill Aitoro states, “a certain naiveté about politics was lost among Americans, a newfound appreciation of investigative journalism emerged, and government realized that press might not be so easily contained.” America’s trust in government had fallen to 32% and has yet to recover.¹

As with any government, there is a conspiracy and one of the most widely known conspiracy theories in America is Area 51. For years, people have speculated a facility located in Nevada is home to multiple government-run experiments and information. It is unknown where this facility is located or what exactly is held there but in 2007, multiple declassified documents stated a government-funded program called Oxcart was conducted at Area 51 during the Cold War.⁵ Despite ongoing speculation and declassified documents, the United States Government continues to deny the facilities existence and actions taken on the premises. In recent times, the Pentagon Department of Defense admitted to running a $22 million top-secret program aimed at “UAP’s” (unidentified aerospace phenomena) called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.³ This is a huge discovery and proves the government has always acknowledged “alien” claims by the public, but exactly what the program investigates is still a mystery. In 2017 Senator Harry Reid tweeted, “We don’t have the answers but we have plenty of evidence to support asking the questions,” adding more speculation to what the government knows and what they continue to withhold.

Prior to all of these events, America was involved in the most corrupt and destructive wars of modern times, the World Wars. Amidst the wars, illicit drug addictions began on the battlegrounds. Before the first world war, everyday drug use in America was limited to 0.5% of the population but government-issued cigarettes provided to soldiers changed this with an estimated 14 million cigarette users by war’s end.�™ By the second world war, illicit drugs began to take the military world by storm with Germany issuing amphetamines to their soldiers effectively increasing performance. Nearly every country involved in the war was providing amphetamines to their soldier including the United States. As reported by recovery.org, “The Pentagon issued between 250-500 million Benzedrine tablets to U.S. troops during the war… Approximately 15% of American soldiers took the drug on a regular basis.” It is believed the United States government provided more amphetamines than any other country. The result was catastrophic with more than 550,000 methamphetamine addicts in the homeland following the war.�™ Nearly 15 years after, Americans entered the Vietnam war with drugs consumed in wartime reaching numbers unheard of before. An estimated 225 million units of dextroamphetamine, also known as speed, were distributed to soldiers by the United States government. Soldiers assigned missions were provided with medical kits that included steroids, 6 dextroamphetamine pills, 12 opioid painkillers, and 24 tablets of codeine.�™ Soldiers were given no time to recover from these drugs and as a result, American’s saw the largest number of soldiers who suffered PTSD and addiction. It can be inferred that this information was, and still is, withheld from the public because these actions may have created the United States drug addiction epidemic.

It is no secret that the United States justice system allows many citizens to enjoy a peaceful walk with their pets, infrastructure provides a method of transportation, and taxes provide the fuel for new schools, technology, and goods. While this may be true in most areas of the United States, it is a distant dream in others. According to the 2017 U.S. Census Bureau, more than 39.7 million Americans live in poverty, not including the homeless. Many of these citizens live in crime-riddled towns such as California’s own Merced, a town with high crime and unemployment rates. Crime rates and poverty continue to grow with no end in sight. As politicians come and go, they promise to lower unemployment rates, crime, and poverty but only 66.7% of political promises are kept.⁶

In closing, corruption, secrecy, and incompetence are only some reasons citizens cannot trust the government.  While most Americans live their lives without worry, many others face challenges every day; challenges that have been promised change many times since the founding of this country. Perhaps America’s distrust in government reflects accurately upon how it functions, what actions are taken to see change, and how the media perceives individuals in power. Throughout the history of this country, the government has thrown blame on others for the issues they face. It is never their fault. The narcissistic leadership of the United States is to blame for citizen’s distrust, and if trust continues to fail bigger consequences will be at hand.

Sources 

1. Bell, Peter. “Public Trust in Government: 1958-2017.” Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 25 Apr. 2018

2. “Drug Use in Wartime.” Recovery.org, 18 Aug. 2018

3. “Pentagon Ran Secret Multi-Million Dollar UFO Programme.” BBC News, BBC, 17 Dec. 2017

6) Poliscihill. “Trust Us: Politicians Keep Most Of Their Promises.” FiveThirtyEight,        FiveThirtyEight, 21 Apr. 2016

4. “Richard Nixon.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 21 Nov. 2017

5. “What Goes on at Area 51?” History.com, A&E Television Networks

7)“What Is the Current Poverty Rate in the United States?” UC Davis Center for Poverty Research