How our government has destroyed the very basis of consensual government—trust

Roland D. writes:

What really strikes me is how little I trust my own government, anymore.

I’ve become so used to being misinformed, patronized, manipulated, and outright lied to by our supposed leaders that I pretty much assume that anything they assert is a lie, unless I can unearth sufficient support for their statements on my own.

The fact that the Administration’s story on the bin Laden operation keeps changing, coupled with the inexplicable burial at sea and the Administration’s refusal to release any photographs of bin Laden’s corpse, has planted more than a kernel of doubt in my mind regarding the entire affair.

Was bin Laden in fact armed? If he was not armed, why did the SEALs not go to extraordinary lengths to capture him, given the significant intelligence/propaganda value of capturing him alive?

Hell, at this point, I’m unsure whether or not bin Laden was present in the compound at all, and whether or not he was actually killed, if he was in fact there. Malice or incompetence, take your pick—either way, I just don’t buy the basic story being pushed by the Administration (such as it is). It doesn’t make sense.

This is the main accomplishment of modern politicians of both major political parties—to reduce the level of trust Americans have in their own federal government to something approximating that of Third Worlders towards their respective governments.

LA replies:

Part of the project of the left is to destroy men’s belief in truth, so that no one trusts anyone, the consensual basis of self-government is undermined, and all that remains is power.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 05, 2011 10:44 AM | Send