The Atlantic
Civil society cannot allow mistrust in institutions to become violent rebellion.
Getty / Katie Martin / The Atlantic
In 1958 the American National Election Study began asking Americans whether they trusted the federal government to do the right thing all or most of the time. By this measure, American trust in government peaked at 77 percent in 1964, shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the election of Lyndon B. Johnson. By the end of Jimmy Carter’s presidency in 1980, trust had fallen below 30 percent, and while the exact percentage has fluctuated since then, it has never returned to the lofty heights of the early 1960s. Fewer than 20 percent of Americans now express strong trust in the government to do the right thing all or most of the time an inversion of 30 years ago, when only a small minority consistently mistrusted the government.
type of discussion we don t have on the senate floor, the type of listening that takes place with senators we don t have in the modern senate. it was valuable in that sense. i hope each side understands each other better. i hope my republican colleagues understand they have pressed this to the brink. they have used the personal privilege to filibuster in such a systematic way it s unacceptable and deeply disturbing to the american people who want to see us addressing america and we have this petty partisan paralysis and it s unacceptable. senator, i want to ask you on another issue pertaining to a bill senator gillibrand is pushing trying to get sexual assaults under the chain of command in the military. picking up the support of ted crews, rand paul, conservative cover there. what is the outlook forward forward. they have rallied on the hill against it. from where it sits, do you think it has a chance moving forward?