Simple Question: What is your level of trust in your Government and Government Officials? Do you think they have YOUR best interest at heart? The Best interest in the typical American? America? Rocket River
Typical simplistic post from Rocket River. As far as I trust anyone, I trust the government more than I trust the people. It's not exactly a high standard to breach by any means, but that's the nature of it with the idiocy and evil of humanity.
Yeah; about as much as I can trust FHA, Sallie Mae, INS, FERC, EEOC, DoD and public K-12 schools, universities and hospitals to help immigrate, indirectly employ, educate and house me, my parents and siblings for the last fifty years.
I am somewhere in between Kojirou and Pouhe's attitudes on this matter. I think your question would be interesting to trace from 50s vs 70s vs 90s vs 10s. Watergate changed a lot, and Bradley Manning, Assange, and Snowden pushed the idea deeper into mainstream society. Most posters on D&D already knew these revelations many years ago so we haven't changed as much.
Like virtually all D&D polls, "hypotheticals," or "honest questions," it seems loaded and narrow due to an OP lacking evidence or initial arguments in either direction. Unfortunately, large institutions with liability and responsibility diffused and partitioned among thousands or millions are as capable of unethical acts as individuals with no oversight or sense of altruism or consequence.
Land of the free? Whoever told you that is your enemy! <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4smim2MNvF8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Honestly I believe that anyone who "trusts" their government has never worked with the government or been around elected officials. I don't think it is evil because it is not its own entity. The people who comprise government though? Serving in government erodes the normal humanity of a person.
the gov'mint's a monster on the loose, and it's got our heads into the noose. People got fat and grew lazy, and their vote is like a meaningless joke. The police force is watching the people, and the people just can't understand.
How do you suppose the citizens of the United States will get the liberties they are afforded by the constitution back from the tyrants who have take them? Asking nicely? Internet petitions on change.org? Nope... it will eventually be by force. A resistance will eventually form, and we'll have our own Arab Spring. It is only a matter of time. I'm not saying that is what I want, but it is inevitable. "Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying civilization." - Aristotle
Depends on what kind of Arab Spring you're looking for. Political change through increased civil involvement or some sort of "government takedown" popularized by the militias and white supremacy movements of the 80s/90s. The latter will always be a challenge if the economy weakens for a long period time. For the most part, people recognize the need for security and government infrastructure in the form of services and providing the most basic needs for every American. My distrust comes from an erosion of civil liberties and continuous overreach of the 1st and 4th amendments by the government in their claims of preserving public security. Too much dirty **** to place any trust in that front even if there is a baseline need for it.
Forget about political ideology for a moment. And I assume that you are referring to the federal government, and not state and local governments. Would you trust a government that done the following in the last 5 years? 1. Used a branch of the government (the IRS) to harass and punish political opponents and stifle opposition movements. 2. Spied on foreign governments, including allies of the United States 3. Illegally collected personal data from millions of citizens and people all over the world (and you thought Watergate was bad??) 4. Censored newspapers, tv and other media to promote their own interests 5. Hacked into journalists computers to intimidate and collect information 6. Sold (for free) high powered firearms to terrorists in Mexico and all over the Middle East to fight proxy wars. Then used executive privilege to suppress inquiries into these activities. 7. Manipulated government employment data ahead of the election to get unemployment below their target. 8. For political and election purposes, lied about an international attack by al Qaeda that murdered our Ambassador to Libya. 9. Misrepresented key pieces of their signature legislation and then rushed to pass the bill through the reconciliation process (which is set aside for financial matters only). Openly lied about the ability to keep one's insurance and openly lied about the individual mandate being a tax (and actually argued the opposite in front of the Supreme Court!). Got the deal done by buying votes through kickbacks to key Senators. The age of innocence ended with the assassination of JFK. The government hasn't been trusted fully since then. Makes sense, I mean the CIA conspired with the mafia and parts of the military and federal government to take out the President. The Warren Commission was a complete mockery and is perceived as such by the majority of Americans to this day. We knew then that our government would openly lie and deceive to maintain power. Nothing has changed -- now the light just shines brighter on the cockroaches since the internet has caused media, attention, and scrutiny to proliferate. All of the deceit can no longer be buried -- it's visible.
Let's put it bluntly. Thomas Jefferson, when it came to government, was an idiot. A very, very good thinker and philosopher, but that doesn't make one a leader. He did have the good sense to realize that he had been an idiot when he became President, however, and thus changed with things like the Louisiana Purchase. And that is more than can be said of the modern reactionary ideologues which love to quote him when he was a rebel. I don't really agree from my time there. Did I trust the government more compared to afterwards? No. Did I trust the people outside of government who want to make changes? OH HELL NO. Like I said, it's not for me that I trust the government, it's that I trust the government more than I trust the people because holy **** the people are morons. Case in point.... This guy.
Throw the militarization of the police the war on drugs in there while you are at it. I don't necessarily feel that violence will come about, at least not for some time... but I do feel something drastic needs to change or we will get to that point sooner rather than later. Damn... it is really depressing when you list it all out like that. And you didn't even mention snooping on innocent citizens, and mining data that may be used against you eventually.
