Time reports [5]:
Corruption of government officials is currently Americans’ number one fear, according to a recent survey [6] by researchers at Chapman University.
The researchers asked a random sample of 1,541 adults to rate the level of fear for 88 different fear options across a variety of domains (like crime and natural disasters). Based on their findings, here were the top 10 fears for 2015:
- Corruption of government officials (58.0%)
- Cyber-terrorism (44.8%)
- Corporate tracking of personal information (44.6%)
- Terrorist attacks (44.4%)
- Government tracking of personal information (41.4%)
- Bio-warfare (40.9%)
- Identity theft (39.6%)
- Economic collapse (39.2%)
- Running out of money in the future (37.4%)
- Credit card fraud (36.9%)
Last month, Gallup found that 75% [7] of Americans said they believe corruption is widespread in the government (up from 66% percent in 2009).
Also last month, Gallup found that a record low 38% [8] of Americans trust the government to handle domestic problems. And half [9] of Americans think that the government is an immediate threat to us.
We at Washington’s Blog are non-partisan and non-dogmatic. We don’t believe that government is inherently good or inherently bad. We instead believe that each government has to be analyzed to determine its degree of honesty or corruption.
Unfortunately, it is T-H-O-R-O-U-G-H-L-Y documented [10] that systemic corruption has destroyed America … as admitted by politicians on both sides of the political aisle [11].
(Sadly, America is not alone … governments worldwide are sliding down into mud pits of corruption [12].)
Postscript: Mainstream politicians and media are trying to browbeat Americans into trusting our government more. For example, Time Magazine tries to make fun of Americans who don’t trust the government … by comparing them to people who believe in aliens and the paranormal.
Likewise, Obama frequently [13] chides [14] Americans for distrusting their government.
But we Americans don’t trust our government because our government has repeatedly demonstrated through its actions that it is corrupt and untrustworthy.