As someone with libertarian leanings, I've never especially looked to institutions for answers. But this is troubling, nonetheless:
The only major institution to have gained a statistically significant about of trust since 2000 is the military, which is now the most trusted major institution in the country .
In all other insitutions except the military -- the scientific community, medicine, all three branches of the federal government, education, organized religion, financial institutions, major companies, organized labor and the press -- less than 50 percent of Americans now express confidence. Even if we get our economic confidence back and start spending our way back out of the recession, where do we go as a nation if we don;t have faith in anything anymore?
Comments
So, if I understand this correctly, the ONLY way to:
1) secure our borders
2) get drugs off our streets
3) clean up Washington
...Is to SEND IN THE MARINES.
Yeah, I'm OK with that (even after watching SEVEN DAYS IN MAY).
At least THEY'LL get the job DONE!
(and for a lot less money)
Faith...we can BELIEVE in.
;)
Maybe the confidence placed in the military reflects a general perception among the survey respondents that individuals placing themselves in harm's way on behalf of each other should be accorded greater respect than are other professionals. General recognition that our government has been flinging those individuals repeatedly into hostile remote corners of the globe over the past nine years and thus subjecting them to hardship may also account for some reluctance to publicly express disaffection for military organizations tasked with the mobilizations. Meanwhile, in contrast, other institutions on the list are seen less favorably due to much publicized corruption and other misconduct among members.
I'm not suggesting we're in any immediate danger, but this sort of sentiment explains why military coups work from time to time.
First of all, the military is pretty effective - that's impressive in its own right. Second, we probably engage in more military hero worship than is strictly necessary. The military isn't necessarily held to the same level of scrutiny as other institutions because we don't want to feel or be labeled as unpatriotic.