Trust

Perhaps responsible citizenship in a democracy begins with simple trust.  If so, how do we regain it in each other?

As a ‘One-Percenter’, by virtue of military service, it is comforting knowing that America is tuning into the detrimental effects of a stratified and disconnected society.  The segregation of American into one percents, two percents, five percents, or any consistent minority subgroup, poses an existential threat to our system of government, and way of life.

Following segregation amongst our citizens, alienation sets root, resentment builds, misunderstandings foster, and interests appear further and further apart. Such a reality corrodes the very foundation with which our democracy rests—Trust.

Trust is fundamental to any democracy. Trust is what allows citizens of different interests, viewpoints, and backgrounds to come together, collaborate, deliberate honestly, and secure solutions for the common good.

In a democratic society, we rely on the positive outcomes of a deliberative society. One that mashes together the desires of the people, knowledge of the experts, vision of the leaders, and hopes of a nation into an aggressive process of decision-making and execution.   The glue that binds this process, lubricating the wheels of this experimental machine, is trust. Simple trust in our fellow citizens that at the end of the day, despite differences, we are all striving for the same American principles, and our governmental processes will work, at least substantially, towards all our interests.

Trust cannot be forced upon a people. Nor is trust cemented by the enclosure of geographic and political boundaries. There are several ways to build trust, or erode it, but like a family, trust must be built over time and fortified by shared experiences. Experiences that promote cooperation, foster interaction, and strengthen the understanding of shared benefit and mutual interest.

In today’s society, there is nothing that delivers us, as citizens, these shared experiences.  There does not exist, as boot camp and WWII gave our parents and grandparents, the opportunity to interact with people of different backgrounds, races, religions, and beliefs toward a common national goal.  Instead, we often begin our social and political actions, which drive the deliberative and democracy process, not from a shared understanding of each other and our goals, but from a place of great experiential divide.

One need not look past the current climate in D.C. to see, know, and feel the complete disintegration of trust among our leaders, and the resulting disfunctionality.   But to blame this on them, to believe the disappearance of trust, even existence of mis-trust, begins with them, misses altogether the very point of democracy. Our leaders, for better or worse, directly reflect our temperament and our actions.  That is how the electoral system was designed. So, when it comes to re-building trust, this all important pillar of a democracy, it must begin with us.

If it begins with us, we must confront, for the sake of our democracy, the not-so-simple challenge:  What can we do to rebuild trust in each other?