First, what the hell is this polling question: "% who say they trust the government to do what is right just about always/most of the time?" Is this just the federal government, or all layers of government? Isn't there an enormous difference between "just about always" (say, 80-90% of the time) and "most of the time" (51%)?
Second, he buries the lede a bit about the breakdown in public trust:
Ronald Reagan, with his optimistic “Morning in America” nudged up government approval rates to 46 percent in 1985. But ironically, and tragically, he did so by attacking government itself. In 1986, while running for a second term, he said at a press conference, “the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.”
That's basically it. For nearly half a century now, we've had nonstop propaganda from half the politicians in this country that government = bad. And the other half dabble in it pretty frequently. That's going to produce a pronounced decline in trust no matter the underlying economic facts or the occasional news cycle about an actual governmental lie.
We occasionally see deep-rooted cynicism here about the possibility of any level of American government producing anything good. That plays into this fundamentally reactionary narrative and isn't strictly accurate, anyway. The better approach is to acknowledge decent things on those rare occasions when they happen, then point out how much more could be done.
Edit: might have thought he was running for a second term in '86, but his second term started in '84.
First, what the hell is this polling question: "% who say they trust the government to do what is right just about always/most of the time?" Is this just the federal government, or all layers of government? Isn't there an enormous difference between "just about always" (say, 80-90% of the time) and "most of the time" (51%)?
Second, he buries the lede a bit about the breakdown in public trust:
That's basically it. For nearly half a century now, we've had nonstop propaganda from half the politicians in this country that government = bad. And the other half dabble in it pretty frequently. That's going to produce a pronounced decline in trust no matter the underlying economic facts or the occasional news cycle about an actual governmental lie.
We occasionally see deep-rooted cynicism here about the possibility of any level of American government producing anything good. That plays into this fundamentally reactionary narrative and isn't strictly accurate, anyway. The better approach is to acknowledge decent things on those rare occasions when they happen, then point out how much more could be done.
Edit:
might have thought he was running for a second term in '86, but his second term started in '84.