In Government We Don't Trust

I just looked at a twenty dollar bill, and across the back it says "In God We Trust."  It doesn't say "In Government We Trust," and we don't trust the government on the whole.  I know that there are quite a few people that don't trust big business either, but the trust in government is declining worldwide.  This is found to be a continuing trend in the Edelman Trust Barometer survey data.

Why would we trust our government to do anything right?  Why would we trust politicians to be squeaky clean and honest?  Recently, politicians have lied to us about many important things in our lives.  Can you keep your health insurance policy if you like it?  Can you keep your doctor if Obamacare drives him or her into early retirement?  Are your health insurance premiums declining?  Did he have sex with that woman?

Lies are one thing, but do you trust the government to be competent?  I don't think the government does many things very well?  Even when the government does something well, it doesn't get it done efficiently or inexpensively.  I would love to see our government go back to the federalism that was intended by the founding fathers.  With a federal government, the US government is supposed to govern foreign relations and national defense and various other functions that are of national interest and consequence.  Most functions were considered to be better handled by the state and local governments.  I would take that a little further.  I think private businesses will always provide better service and quality than any government agency.  In fact, we would be much better off taking care of ourselves than relying on government.

A big driver in reducing our trust in government seems to be the gridlock in Washington.  We elect politicians to go to Washington and solve problems, but they're far more interested in their own political futures.  Obamacare is a perfect example.  The people want more affordable health care that is available to everyone.  You would think that the Republicans and Democrats could get together and brainstorm solutions.  Then a bipartisan bill could be crafted that will reach the stated goals.  Instead, a totally partisan bill is written that gets no input from the party that isn't in the majority.  The bill passes without a single Republican vote.  Now serious problems have surfaced, but the bill can't be altered or re-written, because the Republicans controlling the House will only accept a complete repeal of the Obamacare bill.  That will never happen since the Democrats control the Senate and Presidency.  Now the Republicans have accepted that Obamacare is passed and signed and is law.  They are willing to let the American people suffer the consequences in hopes of re-gaining control of the Senate in 2014 and the Presidency in 2016 when the system collapses.

The American people don't give a rats ass about the Republicans' political aspirations or President Obama's legacy legislation.  They didn't elect the legislators to get partisan gridlock.  We want solutions to the problems we face that were created by prior MessAPolitical actions and the law of unintended consequences.  I hope the American people are starting to see the results of their prior votes.  I guess we can't blame the politicians for our problems, because we elected them.  It's time to vote for limited government, putting federalism back in place, and for freedom.  We need to re-institute the constitution.