Trust in government continues to stagnate

By KAREN PARKER | County Line Editor

Wow, maybe we shouldn’t celebrate the 4th of July. Consider this from Pew Research:

The public’s trust in the federal government continues to be at historically low levels. Only 19 percent of Americans today say they can trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (3 percent) or “most of the time” (16 percent).

Fewer than three in 10 Americans have expressed trust in the federal government in every major national poll conducted since July 2007 — the longest period of low trust in government in more than 50 years. In 1958, when the American National Election Study first asked this question, 73 percent saidthey could trust the government just about always or most of the time.

But wait, you say, July 4 is about celebrating the red, white and blue, liberating ourselves from British rule, honoring soldiers, and fitting a lot of brats on the grill and beer in the cooler.

Yes, but other than thebrats and beer, all the rest of the stuff is closely entwined with government, and if we do not trust or have any regard for the institution, are we just celebrating out of habit?

Do our chests swell in pride when we hear a patriotic song or see a hundred waving flags? Or do we have an uneasy feeling that things are just not right with our country or our government.

I don’t expect to be around 50 years from now, but some of my readers will. What do you suppose will be said of the actions of our government and its leaders?

We don’t have a crystal ball, but we can look back and compare what we have now with those we had then.

I find Sam Rayburn quite fascinating. At the time of his death in 1961, the Texan was the longest serving Speaker of the House, a seat now filled by Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan.

Rayburn’s personal integrity was legendary: he accepted no money from lobbyists, he went on only one congressional junket in 48 years (he paid his own way), and he even refused travel expenses on speaking tours.

Rayburn made his philosophy clear in a speech.

When I became a member of the law firm of Steger, Thurmond and Rayburn, Messrs. Thurmond and Steger were representing the Santa Fe Railroad Company, receiving pay monthly. When the first check came after I entered the firm, Mr. Thurmond brought to my desk one-third of the amount of the check, explaining what it was for. I said to him that I was a member of the Legislature, representing the people of Fannin County, and that my experience had taught me that men who represent the people should be as far removed as possible from concerns whose interests he was liable to be called on to legislate concerning, and that on that ground I would not accept a dollar of the railroad’s money, though I was legally entitled to it. I never did take a dollar of it. I have been guided by the principle in all my dealings.

Today it was reported that more than $50 million has been spent in the Georgia 6th District Congressional Race, the most ever for any House race.

If Rayburn were not dead, that news likely would have given him instant cardiac rest. My guess is it did not faze Paul Ryan or anyone else in Congress, regardless of party.

At his death, the New York Times said of him, “Mr. Rayburn will go down in history as one of the strong Speakers but also as a parliamentary leader who relied mainly on persuasion and almost never on raw power to achieve his aims. A man of taciturn dignity and no talent or envy for polished oratory, he occasionally was able to swing a close vote in the House by one of his infrequent and characteristically brief speeches.”

Translation: He worked across the aisle and was not a chatterbox stirring up the troops with another appearance on CNN.

When he died, he left an estate of less than $300,000, most of which was his small Texas ranch.

Before his death, Sam Rayburn was quoted as saying, “I am one man in public life who is satisfied, who has achieved every ambition of his youth.”

Those men and women who now run the country would be well advised to recall that when men of Sam Rayburn’s character were in charge, the American public had a different opinion of government — 73 percent said they could trust the government just about always or most of the time.

Rayburn never forgot his role was to serve the people who elected him. Which of your Washington representatives thinks that way now?

Think about that while you are waiting for the fireworks to start.

 

 

 

 

 

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