How Distrustful we say we are....

The Economist last week had a great article on how Angry and Distrustful Americans are self-identifying as (LINK, but you have to register if you want to see it).
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Reducing it to the meaningful bits, the article discusses that we Americans call our government corrupt and untrustworthy at the same rate as Greeks and Italians do.  At the same rates police states and failed states do.  At the same rate the Chinese do.
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But we (Americans) probably don't really believe that.  In fact, we don't act that way.  Tax evasion, underground economies, and a non-functioning elections are all artifacts of a systems where people really believe rampant corruption occurs.  We don't we have those problems, or a huge prevalence of scams (although those we have get a lot of publicity), we still support communities and believe in helping strangers.
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Looking more closely at the data, experts find that regular old White Americans have become less trusting of "most people" (minorities have always been less trusting of "most people").  People who study such things say that it is not a simple problem to understand or to fix.  Trust has been steadily declining since World War II - but something new seems to be happening.  Anti-government cynicism is feeding on the gulfs in society.
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Society has become more impersonal and more economically unequal.  And (per the article - which I kind of believe) they wrap up...

This is America's real problem with trust.  The country faces a crisis of mutual resentment, masquerading as a general collapse in national morale.  Sharply-delineated voter blocs are alarmingly willing to believe that rival groups are up to no good or taking more than their fair share.  Polls describing America as a hell-hole of corruption are not to be taken literally.  They are a warning.  America is not a low-trust society.  But it risks becoming one.

The media, the echo chamber feeds on this, I think.  Ratings are to be had by being crazier (left or right) than the other guy.  The requests for donations sent to me (a Democrat) highlight people taking away my marriage right, people fouling the air, Republicans having Baby Harp Seal Beating Parties (not really, but close).  And I have seen the right wing request for donations that say outrageous things about liberals.  The more we believe that, they tougher it is to function as a country.
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I don't know the answer.  I still think the old men that voted in that Rape law are stupid.  And a lot of people think my monogamous, 19 year marriage will cause the downfall of our society.  But we should celebrate what we can do together.