"Majority don't trust government"

[SHRED]

Reading the recent headlines of polls taken that seems like a "no-brainer".

I have concerns about this however.
While there is much we all are frustrated with in our Local, State, and Federal governments, the over-the-top "hatred" is disturbing to me.
It just feels rightwing to me.

This hatred leaves no room for working out solutions as a society.
It only calls for cutting the size of "government"...whatever that means.
Despises rules and regulations for the common good.
It assumes there is a vast "lazy" populace laying around getting "government handouts".
It assumes that people here illegally are living the high-life off of "government handouts" and are the sole reason health care is in shambles.

I think it is whipped up by the corporate TV and radio talkingheads.
I think it is sadistic.
I think it damages our country.

We need to come together and think this through
We need to end corporate "personhood".
Publicly finance our elections.
Take BIG money out of influencing who controls our government.


---

[NJmaverick]

1. This poll should be a concern to all liberals

it's a combination of two things. The right wingnuts who HATE the government whenever the GOP isn't controlling it and those who lost trust in the government after seeing how poorly the GOP ran things (Katrina, 911, the economic melt down ect). Still the ultimate result is that people will not believe the idea that the government can do for the people what the people can't do for themselves.

Sometimes I wonder if the GOP deliberately tanks the government when they run it, so they can strengthen their anti-government message

[ShortnFiery]

3. Yeah, it's all the GOP's fault.

:eyes:

[NJmaverick]

5. I have to disagree with your defense of the GOP

[Odin2005]

4. Hey, many of us here on the LEFT don't trust the government, either.

I know that might be hard for you to understand...

[NJmaverick]

6. It's easy to understand. Liberals support the idea that the government can HELP

those that don't share that core liberal value will not support the government.

[ShortnFiery]

8. The Government, since Saint Reagan, has functioned to help The Corporate State to the detriment

of The People. The overthrow has taken 30-40 years but we have almost fully morphed in to economic fascism.

We now live to serve Our Corporate Masters, not The Common Good of our fellow Americans.

[Odin2005]

9. Corporate Government doesn't help the average person.

[Blue Meany]

11. Government can help, but it takes office-holders who will

not kow-tow to special interests. I have been trying to think of the last time Congress passed a law that was right, fair, good and unsullied by compromises. I'm thinking maybe it was the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Maybe this is wrong, but the fact that I have such a hard time thinking of one is suggestive.

We should have a single-payer health plan. Everyone who is not blinded by ideology knows it, but Congress is too corrupted by corporate interests to pull it off. And it is like that with everything that is important: energy investments, food secuity, national security, you name it...I'm very tired of having to bribe special interests with something every time any little thing is done for the common interest.

I think it is partly this disillusion with high-level politics that is driving the movement towards localism. It usually easier to solve problems with people in your community, even when there are strong differences, because you have to live with each other.

[ThomThom]

24. A lot of us on the left see the Democrats speaking for big business

and we are not happy. There are very few real liberals or progressives in the Congress. This makes the 80% figure easy to believe. But it doesn't mean we would be happy with republican rule. I will never vote for a republican ever again. I want campaign reform, I want corporate money out of my government and elections. I want an economy that works for working people not the rich. I want a banking system that is not playing the stock market and not taking handouts when their gambles turn sour. I want the rights restores that the war on terrorism took away. I want the ill conceived illegal occupations of foreign counties ended. In fact I would like to see most of our troops based around the world brought home. Yes I am unhappy with the government but caring guns is just silly and juvenile. It is an attempt at intimidation which serves no purpose. I hope no one gets hurt. I don't think we should go back to the wild, wild west, we need civil discussion. It would be nice if we had a Supreme Court that upheld the Constitution and not far right wing corporate fascist ideology.

[Captain Hilts]

17. The healthcare debate turned a lot of Dems off too. nt

[ShortnFiery]

2. When a handful of people, on both sides of the aisle CONTROL all the Political Power ...

Yes, Oligarchy makes us "little people" angry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1lZMTCqf8

IMO, the "DLC liberal" elites, right-wing democrats and republicans RUN THE ENTIRE NATION.

I wouldn't be surprised if a few selected power players make the decisions well ahead of time and then task the whores in the M$M to manufacture consent.

Needless to say, I'm jaded ... and super pissed off. However, I'm going to focus my energies on the local level where my volunteerism and concern can truly MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

[RKP5637]

13. I think you hit the nail on the head, "Yes, Oligarchy makes us 'little people' angry." Many

feel unheard and people of various mindsets/political views are angry. The mix of money, power and greed into gov. has created a viral ruling class wherein many citizens are just squeezed out... then the layered on rhetoric across the power/control/wealth/political spectrum makes logic pale, and the media whores are lined up at the feeding trough making all the profit they can feeding the frenzy for profit at any cost to the country.

I've also read this is probably the most propagandized nation ever, and it's hard to believe this is not true. I think many citizens live in a box and don't look over the edge to see what is really going on... just coping day-to-day for many saps all of their energy and time. And, there is also this notion of blind adherence. And, there is surely an element that just does not care, let someone else do it for me...

Hence we end of what what Bill Maher characterizes so well, CF Nation.

And I also wish George Carlin were still around!

[ShortnFiery]

15. Yes, I miss the great social scientist, the late George Carlin too.

:-)

The future looks bleak ...

http://www.counterpunch.org/kuzminski08182004.html

What is likely is the continued consolidation of the right-wing duopoly, most evident in the erosion of civil liberties and the war on terrorism. Somewhere along the line, America lost its political freedom without even realizing it. The last meaningful opposition to the duopoly was perhaps Ross Perot's presidential candidacy in 1992. His presence in the presidential debates and his subsequent garnering of almost twenty percent of the vote -- in spite of dropping out of the race and then reentering it -- may be the most underappreciated event in recent American political history. Perot was no social activist liberal, but he showed what an open political process might achieve. Afterward, the duopoly regrouped and created a rigged, 'bi-partisan,' corporate-sponsored debate commission dedicated to making sure that no third party candidate would ever again enjoy such exposure to the voters.

The coming darkness is the eclipse of American political freedom and the unchecked reign of a venal, arrogant, and ignorant ruling class. Onerous as its depredations at home are likely to be, even more omnious is its immoral, illegal, and criminal policy of preemptive war abroad -- a policy fully endorsed by Kerry. There is no end to the war on terrorism, since a terrorist is increasingly defined as anyone who opposes the duopoly at home or abroad.

[RKP5637]

20. Thank you for the link. It answered quite succinctly some questions I have had as to

how we got here. It should be on the required reading list!

Thanks!

[ShortnFiery]

21. You're Welcome. :-) eom

[AngryAmish]

7. DTA

[kevinbgoode]

10. So why is it that we NEVER see any "polls" about how many Americans

trust the insurance industry? Or the deregulated utilities? Or their bank?

[Captain Hilts]

18. Ask and you shall receive:

Here is the first time it's asked,

http://people-press.org/reports/questionnaires/532.pdf

More results are here:

http://people-press.org/search/?cx=005135597546655918890:ehkal4jqwbs&cof=FORID:11&ie=UTF-8&q=%22insurance+companies%22&sa.x=22&sa.y=9&sa=Search

[madrchsod]

12. that`s probably universal and i bet goes back tens of thousands of years...

[LetsgoWings13]

14. i know some people who do take advantage of it.

this person will sell his bridge card for drugs.

[Captain Hilts]

16. I read the Pew survey. They're comparing between 1997 and right now. The results suggest that

a lot of Democrats are also more cynical about what government can do.

Yes, a lot is whipped up by television, but a lot of folks watched the health care reform debate and decided that Congress is bought off, also.

These results shocked me, so I went to the Pew site to read the survey.

[OHdem10]

19. The Corporate Media have contributed to this in ways that cannot

be measured.

[Sheepshank]

22. It IS concerning

and disconcerting. The hateful rhetoric doesn't only cling to the Dems in leadership right now. The undermining, conspiracy type of emotions the right is nurturing will be a prevailing attitude for future political leaders. They are effectively shooting everyone in the foot, including themselves. Lord help us if some fanatical RW religious zealot ever comes across as the political saviour. Look for a Taliban type political future in that case!

This negative rhetoric should be playing in our favor...believe it or not. Exposing the lies, and poor national management of the previous administration is the start. And yes, the lies and mismanagement and being exposed in incremental portions...following through on promises from this administration, will seal the deal.

[lumberjack_jeff]

23. Should they?

I think Democratic government is somewhat more trustworthy than Republican government, but...

The problem isn't mistrust, it's the degree to which that mistrust is fueled by misinformation.

[katsy]

25. CNN reported that government was trusted the most

during FDR's administration.

That's all they said and dropped it. Why?

If the poll showed that people trusted the government most during the bush (pick one) years or reagan years, the media would ask, nonstop:

IS WASHINGTON TOO FAR TO THE LEFT? HUH? WELL THIS POLL SAYS IT MIGHT BE! wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Why don't they examine what was right about FDR? No. They never broach that subject. Not once will the media give progressive, Democratic leaders or ideas and solutions respect. Never.