An old paraphrased saying: “There are old guys, and there are naïve guys, but there are no old, naïve guys.” I admit to coming close. I used to BELIEVE in our institutions, our core systems, our common ground support groups, that keep everything going. While I was quite aware that there are some bad apples in every barrel of virtually every walk of life, I also believed that, on the whole, we had systems in place to protect and serve everyone. That the good outweighed the bad. That our checks and balances existed to prevent utilizing those systems for illicit gain. I thought MOST folks in the public sectors did their jobs, to the best of their ability, thus creating and maintaining a smooth society. Yes, there was personal benefit to be had at every level of our world, but people did so honestly, for the most part. While I have ALWAYS been a skeptic and a cynic, I thought there were some bedrock principles folks stayed near to, if not straight on, to keep things rolling successfully. I thought the ‘social contract’ was alive, well, and not only made sense, but was followed by the majority of folks. Recent events have completely shot my naivete with enough holes to make it completely transparent. Let’s dig.
Not long ago, I thought most public officials, while making their own lives a bit cushier, also ran for, and got elected to, their respective offices to do some good. Maybe represent the majority of their constituents, maybe reform a few bent or broken subsystems along the way. Sure, there was the occasional outright crook in office, but there were watchdog groups in place to prevent them from doing great harm (ok, some got away with SOME harm). And, if worst came to worst, we could elect some other dude or dudette to take their place. Right? Someone at least a LITTLE better than the previous dude? I am completely rethinking this entire process. It may very well be that the lesser of two evils…is still evil. And the media, whose watchdog role is enshrined in our 1st Amendment to our US Constitution? They are right behind used car salesmen in trustworthiness. No help there at all.
I used to believe in law enforcement, at every level. From the local beat cop, to the lieutenants, to the sergeants, up to the Chief of Police. Same approach to the State guys: County mounties and such. I’m not silly enough to think ALL cops are good—the Rambo wannabes, the armed power-trippers, and those drunk with uniformed authority, disabused that concept pretty quickly. But, on the whole, I thought the police would BE THERE WHEN NEEDED. At the Federal level, I bought into the hype of the FBI, CIA, NSA, and all the other groups of initials. I truly thought their jobs as protectors and investigators of big crimes (think terrorism, counterfeiting, kidnapping, bank robbery, etc.) kept us all safe—regardless of political stripe. And I thought those same folks (NSA, FBI, etc.) would only be gathering information on CRIMINALS! They needed the ability to view information at a macro level to prevent 9/11 type events, or to take down organized crime, human traffic systems, drug smuggling, and the like. Sure, they overheard non-criminal information, but that was expected while doing broad sweeps to keep us safe, right? That was never the primary goal, right? I mean, wasn’t the 4th Amendment to the US Constitution in place to prevent abusing such power? Well, after watching the Michael Flynn debacle, after hearing story after story of local police departments funding purely by asset forfeiture, after watching Senate and House committees getting shafted repeatedly by the heads of the FBI and DOJ, I no longer trust these folks. They appear to be as political as your local neighborhood HOA, but with vastly greater powers.
I used to believe in the legal and judicial systems. Lawyers went to great lengths to pass the bar in their respective States. They went on to become defense attorneys, prosecuting attorneys, even District Attorneys. Some even became judges—all the way thru the system to the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court! To suggest that lawyers all comport themselves ethically would get a belly laugh out of nearly every reader! But the LAW is the LAW! It should be equally applied to everyone! That noise you hear is that particular vehicle crashing into an immovable object. For the last four years at least, we have seen bright on our TV screens how completely worthless that idea has become. People of wealth, people who know the RIGHT people, are simply treated differently than the rest of us. End of story. If we did the things that the rich, famous, and politically connected do on a regular basis, we would only see freedom when our prison terms expire. For a firm grasp on their uneven handling of people, and the partisan games they play, look no further than the treatment of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Donald Trump (toss Hunter and Joe Biden in there at will). It is as if there are two sets of legal rules: those for folks ‘they’ like, and those for folks ‘they’ don’t.
I used to trust teachers and school personnel, all the way from kindergarten to graduate school. I thought they had my best interests at heart. That they wanted me to be the best version of me, that they would work to get me to look at the world independently, hone my skills at objective and critical analysis, so that I would go forth from their particular schools better than when I arrived. Yikes. Outside of a few idealists, it is hard to see how they could’ve fallen further in my view. It could be my original view was completely overinflated, that my expectations were unreasonable. Now I find that the bulk of teachers are beholden to their unions, and teaching students WHAT to think, rather than HOW to think. And school administrators? Sheesh. A better example of self-important empire-building could not be made. Common sense left the building decades ago, replaced with ‘do as I say, because I said so.’ Sad.
I never really ‘trusted’ our elected officials in Congress (even I am not THAT dumb). But I did think there were checks and balances in place to keep their chicanery somewhat at a low level. Boy howdy. If nothing else is learned by our governmental response to the COVID-19 pandemic, at least we got to see these vermin in their truest, un-costumed reality. They will play politics with virtually EVERYTHING. Hurt their constituents and their respective economies? Who cares? They are truly only out for themselves and whatever political gain they can generate. They simply do NOT feel the pain of their decisions like their constituents. And you are quite welcome to throw quite a few State Governors into this steaming dung-pile. These mini-tyrants treat the US and State Constitutions like birdcage lining paper. All it took was opportunity, and they showed us exactly who they really are. And that vision is a scary sight at that.
So, I am now looking for people to trust. All of the institutions that formerly held my trust dropped it like a COVID-infused mask. I do not trust the CDC, the Census Bureau, or any government body. Even things like numbers and statistics now have to be viewed through a political lens, and maybe even outright falsified. Maybe I still trust the FAA—but that is subject to change at a moment’s notice.
