Trust in government has fallen to a modern all-time low
The Pew Center has an interesting poll illustrating just how dissatisfied Americans are today. Perhaps the highlight is how far trust in government has fallen — it’s at a modern all time low today. 22% of Americans trust government during the Obama administration:
Perhaps the number was this low during the Buchanan administration. It might be interesting to find out.
April 20th, 2010 at 4:38 am
It’s interesting to me that democrats don’t seem to trust democrat administrations (as a whole) as much as republicans trust republican administrations. And it looks like our current king is ruling from the bottom of the pile. I’m glad he said it was OK to be a one-term president. Looks like he’ll get his wish.
April 20th, 2010 at 10:36 am
The supposedly government-hating Republicans indeed do have a different feeling when their own party controls the White House. Under Reagan, 54% approved of government. Under Poppy Bush, that number dropped to 44%, which is still a full ten percent higher than Democrats trusted any government since Watergate. Under W, 50% of Republicans trusted government.
Republicans are more authoritarian than Democrats. Despite their talk about individual liberty and personal freedom, they’re ready to march behind whatever Republican Daddy figure comes along. This is why right-wingers saw black helicopters in the skies when Clinton was President, but cheered on every egregious executive overreach — from domestic spying to torture — under Bush. Do Democrats and Independents seem to like to think for themselves, while Republicans seem to like to fall in line?
April 21st, 2010 at 1:03 am
Gosh, I just love your responses, Steve. It’s like, you know, like, right out of the democrat and socialist playbooks. Black helicopters, indeed. I recall many democrats waiting for the day when Bush was not going to turn over power to Obama. According to them, he was going to have some sort of crisis that was going to force him to stay as president. But I guess you don’t remember those things.
Executive overreach, give me a break? The EPA, which has no authority under the Constitution and reports directly to the Executive Branch of the government, is about to make carbon, a by product of all life on earth, a pollutant. There are almost twice as many Czars in this current administration than there were in the previous administration. Not a one of them has any responsibility or accountability to any elected official except the President of the United States. Yet this president, when he was a candidate, told everyone what a bad thing it was to have these unelected people in power and he, once elected of course, would never do such a thing. But I guess those were words, just words.
I’m not sure what marching behind a Daddy means, and I don’t wish to get into your personal issues, but marching, to use your term, behind a leader is what leadership is all about. It’s unfortunate that the last democrat leader who had any stones was Johnson. The guy in the Oval Office now can’t lead; heck, he can’t even get out of his own way. Let me take that back, I guess he could get out of his own way but then he would have to know what that way was, wouldn’t he? And voting “present” more than voting yes or no indicates to me that even he doesn’t know where he stands.
My ex-secretary and yes I’m glad she’s an “ex” but not for that reason, said she voted for Obama because she wanted to be part of an historic moment in our nation’s history. She didn’t have a clue as to how truly historic that moment was about to become. Because of people like her who had no idea of the unintended consequences of their action, who didn’t decide to follow a leader but rather a marketing slogan, we’ve put a socialist in charge and given him the ability to put his hands into the largest cookie jar available. But just as she left the private sector to work for the government (where I doubt she could ever be terminated), Obama, too, will soon have his walking papers. And it couldn’t come a day to soon. Unless, of course, there are some black helicopters hiding in our future.
April 21st, 2010 at 2:43 am
Try to put a partisan spin on it if you will, but the lesson to be learned is that the larger government gets, the less it is trusted.
With rare exception, all presidents are underwater with both parties and independents, and the trend is getting worse.