Trust in the government

0:00- So in this course on government, we've talked a lot about how democracy works and the various institutions and that you should go and vote. But now we're gonna talk a little bit about what all of that is based on. And it really is based on this idea of trust.

0:15In order for really any government, but especially a democracy to work, there has to be some trust in the system. For example, if you don't trust that other people are paying their taxes or that the government is going to enforce the taxes, that if you try to fudge it a little bit that they're not going to audit you, maybe you don't pay your taxes or maybe other people don't pay their taxes and then the government has no money to do the different services.

0:41If you don't trust that the criminal justice system works, if you think, oh, either people are getting away with things or that they're falsely accusing people or prisoning things, then you say, "Oh, well, you know, it doesn't matter so much if I, you know, hopefully you're still a good person and even if you think you didn't get caught, you still wouldn't do the crime."

1:00But there are people who might say, "Well, maybe I could get away with this now." And so that might break down. If you didn't think your vote matters, then people won't vote. And then that would skew things. If you thought that, "Hey, you know, the governor", if you're super cynical and you're like, "Well, the government doesn't do anything and they're just wasting money and the only people who become politicians are narcissists and they're just out for themselves", then good people, like, hopefully like yourself, won't actually go into government and it'll become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

1:29So it's important that there's some level of trust. Now, trust is a two-way street. There are reasons to be cynical. We see them every day when we, I get cynical sometimes too. But if you care about your country, if you care about the people around you, it's very important for good people, yes, be skeptical.

1:49Yes, be cynical. Do not give a free pass to your government. In fact, part of not being cynical is saying, "Hey, I don't like the way that that is working. I'm not just going to complain or detach myself from things. I'm going to do something to fix it. I'm going to go to run a petition or I'm gonna go speak up or I'm gonna run for office or I'm gonna do something about it to change that thing that I don't like."

2:12If you think some goofball narcissist is in a city council seat or in the congressional seat, convince someone that you think is better to run for that seat. Fix it. If you start to feel that trust erode, it's not about running away because then it'll just get worse and worse.

2:30It is about engaging in the problem. So there's a two-way street because there are definitely societies that in time that trust did break down. And it did become more lawless. It did. People did stop paying taxes. Corruption is rampant. You know, if you talk to corruption, there's probably a little bit of corruption everywhere, unfortunately.

2:52But there's places in the world that are far more corrupt than where many of us live. And if you talk to people, good people in those societies, they have become very cynical. They've lost trust. Or sometimes they feel the need to participate in that corruption, which once again, when, quote, good people say, "Well, yeah, I kind of have to bribe that policeman in order to get blah, blah, blah.

3:13Otherwise," then it all breaks down. So trust, I'm not asking you to blindly trust the government. What I'm asking you is when you see problems that start to erode your trust or other people's trust, don't run away from it and become cynical, but lean into it and say, "Hey, I'm going to become the change that I wanNA see in the world," as opposed to, "I'm just going to live in my bubble and kind of just worry about myself while the world falls apart."

3:42So if you sense that, take action.