In Nothing We Trust

+ - In Nothing We Trust 1

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Hugh Pickens writes

on Sunday April 22, 2012 @09:41PM

Hugh Pickens writes writes "Ron Fournier and Sophie Quinton write in the National Journal that seven in 10 Americans believe that the country is on the wrong track; eight in 10 are dissatisfied with the way the nation is being governed, only 23 percent have confidence in banks, and just 19 percent have confidence in big business. Less than half the population expresses “a great deal” of confidence in the public-school system or organized religion. “We have lost our gods,” says Laura Hansen. "We’ve lost it—that basic sense of trust and confidence—in everything.” Humans are coded to create communities, and communities beget institutions. What if, in the future, they don’t? People could disconnect, refocus inward, and turn away from their social contract. Already, many are losing trust. If society can’t promise benefits for joining it, its members may no longer feel bound to follow its rules. But history reminds us that America’s leaders can draw the nation together to solve problems. At a moment of gaping income inequality, when the country was turbulently transitioning from a farm economy to a factory one, President Theodore Roosevelt reminded Americans, “To us, as a people, it has been granted to lay the foundations of our national life.” At the height of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt chastised the business and political leaders who had led the country into ruin. “These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men," said FDR. “Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now.""

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