Do Americans Trust Anything Anymore?
Americans’ trust in the institutions that have supported our communities for generations has eroded to stunningly low levels.
It’s not just declining confidence in Wall Street and Washington, far-away power centers that have long been divorced from the daily lives of most Americans and, frankly, don’t deserve much trust right now. People’s faith in their local institutions--public schools, mainstream churches, media, elected officials in cities and small towns alike, even labor unions--is deteriorating rapidly too.
It’s so bad, so serious, that Americans’ general negativity about these institutions has begun to shift from anger and antipathy to something far more dangerous: apathy.
National Journal’s Restoration Calls studies the issue of trust this month. Our cover story, written by Editor in Chief Ron Fournier and reporter Sophie Quinton, takes a trip to Muncie, Ind., and finds the old institutions are failing to adapt--either at all or at least quickly enough--to the once-in-a-generation economic upheaval that the town and thousands of others like it are struggling through.
Why Muncie? Because it has been through this before. Back in the early 20th century, sociologists famously dubbed it Middletown and documented some of the same transformational problems that America faces today.
—Kristin Roberts
P.S.—Ron and Sophie will be talking about their story and the trip to Muncie in a live chat at 2 p.m. today.
In Nothing We Trust
It’s not just that America’s institutions are corrupt or broken; those clichés oversimplify an existential problem. With few notable exceptions, the nation’s onetime social pillars are ill-equipped for the 21st century, writes National Journal’s Ron Fournier and Sophie Quinton. You can see it plainly in Muncie, Ind. And the story of Muncie is the story of America.
+LIVE CHAT: Editor in Chief Ron Fournier and reporter Sophie Quinton will take your questions at 2 p.m. today.
Why We Trust Doctors (subscribers)
We’re cynics about insurance companies and critics of big health care systems. So why do we still believe in physicians? National Journal’s Margot Sanger-Katz weighs in.
Washington’s Trust Deficit
Look no further than the rhetorical dance around the "Buffett Rule" to understand why Americans no longer trust elected leaders, writes National Journal’s Kristin Roberts.
Tax-Day Hypocrites
It’s tax week, and National Journal’s Ben Terris points out that many of our elected leaders in Washington have issues when it comes to the tax man.
The Best Seat
Comments from a Federal Reserve governor prompt National Journal’s Catherine Hollander to wonder whether Beltway denizens should spend more time outside Washington.
Something to Smile About
Watch this video about a boy from East Los Angeles and his unusual--and successful--cardboard arcade game business.
Good Deeds or Tolerance
Religious Americans are more likely to participate in their communities than their secular counterparts, according to recent research. On the other hand, as National Journal's Sophie Quinton writes, they’re less supportive of civil liberties.
Restoration Tunes
Bruce Springsteen is being hailed yet again for an album that captures the zeitgeist of a struggling America. But National Journal’s Ben Terris argues that an album from a lesser-known artist does a better job.
