The Deficit of Trust

posted at 6:08 pm on January 30, 2010 by Doctor Zero

One of the most memorable passages in President Obama’s first State of the Union address was this stirring expression of the need for government to trust and respect its citizens:

In the work ahead, we must be guided by the philosophy that made our nation great. As Americans, we believe in the power of individuals to determine their destiny and shape the course of history. We believe that the most reliable guide for our country is the collective wisdom of ordinary citizens.  And so, in all we do, we must trust in the ability of free peoples to make wise decisions and empower them to improve their lives for their futures.

Wait, sorry, back up a second.  That was from George Bush’s final State of the Union address.  Obama used his address to complain about the lack of trust citizens are showing the government these days:

Rather than fight the same tired battles that have dominated Washington for decades, it’s time to try something new. Let’s invest in our people without leaving them a mountain of debt. Let’s meet our responsibility to the citizens who sent us here. Let’s try common sense.

To do that, we have to recognize that we face more than a deficit of dollars right now. We face a deficit of trust – deep and corrosive doubts about how Washington works that have been growing for years. To close that credibility gap we must take action on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly; and to give our people the government they deserve.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a President who talked about trusting the ability of free people to make wise decisions?  Instead, the current occupant frets about the “deficit of trust,” even as the federal budget deficit soars past a trillion dollars, and his third request to raise the ceiling of the national debt – after only a single year in office – has brought it past $14.3 trillion dollars.

Why shouldn’t the public have deep doubts about Obama’s government?  He actually tried to pass off a $787 billion heist of public funds, laundered through his party’s loyal supporters or poured into imaginary congressional districts and zip codes, as a positive achievement in his State of the Union address.  He insults their intelligence with ridiculous “jobs saved or created” metrics that would cause an embattled business executive to be escorted from the building by security.  We don’t even know what happened to the million-dollar Nobel prize he was supposed to donate to charity.  I wonder if the lucky charity will have a valid zip code.

Obama brags about going from a “bystander to a leader in the fight against climate change” – a boast about making America the biggest sucker to fall for the most expensive fraud in history.  In fact, he diverted half a million dollars of that stimulus loot to Dr. Michael Mann, the con artist who created the ridiculous “hockey stick graph”… which would, in the hands of a truly trustworthy government, serve as evidence for the prosecution at Mann’s trial.

Which members of Obama’s corrupt party should the public trust?  Chris Dodd?  Charlie Rangel?  Barney Frank?  Should we trust the Speaker of the House more after the Freedom of Information Act revealed she’s using military aircraft to shuttle her royal family around in style, often at a cost of over $18,000 per hour of taxpayer money?  Should we trust the people who expect us to ignore an orgy of backroom deals, vote-buying, and subsidies for special interests, and treat them as honest statesmen with the best interests of the entire country at heart, when they attempt their next parliamentary maneuver to ram their health-care takeover down our throats?

The sad state of our supremely untrustworthy government is not merely a question of individual personalities, or parties.  The Republicans didn’t exactly conduct themselves as warrior-poets of frugal and open government during their last time at bat.  We shouldn’t put naïve faith in the government, or in private industries either.

People pride themselves on being aggressively informed, skeptical consumers of goods and services.  They look up reviews on the Internet, and ask probing questions of salespeople, before making a major purchase.  We should be even more skeptical consumers of government.  Businesses have the same incentives to offer fraudulent information, practice creative accounting, and saddle unsuspecting customers with inferior products… but they are much less likely to get away with it than government.  The past year has proven that no one is watching the watchmen.  The same media that eagerly rigs crash tests to attack auto companies will do what it can to protect organs of its favored political party.

Even beyond partisan politics, the media’s romance with the Big Government narrative will always lead it to focus more on intentions than results… and it’s long past time for the public to adopt a hard, cold focus on results.  We should stop expecting accountability from a ruling class armored against consequence by politics, and quick to answer tough questions with a blizzard of reasons why we should hate each other, instead of questioning them.

There is no logic in trusting a massive government that is the primary source of information about itself.  There’s no wisdom in accepting the “sale” of irrevocable, unaccountable government programs on faith.  It’s foolish to accept lectures on investment or employment from a political party that believes itself immune to the laws of supply and demand.  It’s humiliating to let the President tell you he can’t “afford” to give you a tax cut.  It’s madness to entertain complaints about your lack of trust from someone who believes the citizens of America have too much control over their lives and fortunes.  A just government respects the deficit of trust between free men and the politicians they grudgingly empower to maintain order.

Cross-posted at www.doczero.org.

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