How trust is earned by the government is an issue that sometime eludes many representatives of the government. People would be more apt to put trust into the government if they listened and took forward movements to honor the people who elected them. The government has to be attentive to the needs of the people and then determine if it within their constitutional bounds to fulfill those requests. The government representatives should not pander to fringe groups or lobbyists that do not reflect the needs of the many. The government representatives' focus should be on doing what they told the people they were going to do. The ability to stay true to the promises made while maintaining the funding needs of the government is critical to gaining trust of the individuals they represent. 

 

In the United States of America there has been a shift from local and State government in favor of a Federal governing system. Sometimes the State and Federal Governments are in harmony but many times they are not. The Federal Government should not be able to pick and choose the issues they decide to interfere with. For example the decision over marijuana legalization was left to the states but the decision over gay marriage was decided by the Federal Government. 

 

Trust is critical to the United States Government. Without it the country will fall into shambles. This shift to a reliance upon the federal government has taken the voices away from the local communities. The founding fathers set up the country as a republic to be able to respect the many voices composing the country. The belief that we are a democracy is not true and if this were the case every citizen would be ruled by the mob. Even with the use of the electoral system, the votes of smaller states can be lost in the mass voting abilities of larger ones. This is why there is a debate over whether the vote should be decided by popular vote or by land mass representation. For example, in California most of the geographical representation of the State sides with more conservative views. However, because of the huge populations of the coastal cities the votes of the rural dwellers, occupying most of the land are lost. 

 

Our forefathers saw the potential for this problem to arise and made sure to minimize the problem with the creation of a republic but they never saw the importance of technology that has taken over. in the 2012 election technology didn't play a significant role but in 2016 social media played an integral role. Voters can be targeted on a much more individualized way sending a different message to each geographical area. 

 

As the division in America grows so does foreign incentive to encourage further division. The Russians, for example, are trying hard to perpetuate the arguments amongst American citizens, even though there is no evidence to support the evidence that main stream media is feeding the citizens. Thus, creating another dividing factor among the people. Ratings and click bate is the top priority of this over sensationalized media and it is over-saturating the citizens. Many of the American citizens have lost faith in their government's ability to lead them and their media's ability to truthfully report what is going on. The citizens are tuning out.

This lack of trust is detrimental to the stability of the United States of America on multiple levels. With the amount of debt that the government has accumulated it is essential to maintain solid relationships with countries that we are allied with. However if the people of the country the American government rules does not trust them why should these foreign countries. In addition, the duality that has swept over America leaves them wondering what foreign policy the American Government will be operating under next. This has to be stabilized in order to maintain these working relationships.

Gaining trust back is never an easy thing to do but it can be done. Government representatives need to be honest and transparent. The democratic party needs to abandon the super delegate process and unite into a one voice/one vote system. Even if the party does not respect the candidate, they should at least respect the process. The two party system has forced candidates to pick a side and they should have the same potential to be elected as anyone else.

Another thing the government can do to regain trust is admit when they are wrong and finding a way to fix the problem. However, representative have been hesitant to do this so the problem never gets fixed and change is never implemented. These representatives are often elected with the hope that they will make changes but it rarely happens. 

The problem does not lie solely with the government. The people need to take responsibility for their part in the loss of trust. Many citizens make themselves into victims and spend their time thinking boo hoo poor pitiful me. That needs to end. We need a purpose, a national cause that can unite all of the citizens of the United States of America into one purpose. Space travel and reaching Mars could be that goal.