Let’s just wait and see what happens
Trusting – I’m all for it – Unless the person or situation has proven itself untrustworthy. You know, that whole fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. We are at a time in our history when a large part of our fellow Americans are trusting hugely in a new way of government rule, one that is secretive and asks to be trusted while removing democratic principle for checks and balances. This is very risky indeed.
I get it that we needed a change. It’s true there was a stagnation in Washington DC, and in many states, obstructing our ability to move forward. Unaware folks (I have been one of them) believed fake news and got information from very select sources that relied on opinion or just made things up to make money.
Some people rejected normal news sources as tainted or corrupt. “Facts” were believed and trusted from a very narrow band of individuals. This has been rising in our society for some time finding a place among a people that wanted an authoritarian power to just fix the problems. Unfortunately, this new system manipulates people who don’t get a breadth of news from a wide variety of sources and trust implicitly.
Here’s the thing – trust is earned, not given. How do you know if you can trust someone?
They do as they say they are going to do
They act honorably
They have everyones best interest at heart
They have a reputation for treating people fairly
We do not have such leaders in power today.
Look at the various news sources you consume. What do you think is their agenda? Why are they a news organization? Do they clarify opinion from news? How do you know you can trust this organization? Are they just repeating news from other sources? Do they employ investigative journalists?
Consider global warming. Some organizations would say it is a hoax made up by liberals, that nothing humans do affects the change of the temperatures. Think about it. Why would liberals make that up? What is the purpose? To make life harder for businesses? Why? When you give blind trust to an organization or individual, these kinds of questions don’t get asked, much less answered.
What is the agenda of denying human impact on the environment? There is a clear connection between denying global warming and making business profits. It’s easy to see how some people might lie or twist the truth to keep from having to comply with laws that protect the environment but require funding.
It would be quite a conspiracy theory that imagines all ninety-seven percent of scientists in the world are lying to support a liberal agenda that… what? Wants to make up a bunch of EPA rules just for the fun of making businesses pay extra money? Makes no sense.
Better is to have the discussion, what environmental rules are necessary and why? How can the government help businesses manage EPA rules and maintain a profit? What are multiple resources saying? How are other countries managing these changes? How can we make government and businesses more transparent so we can see if the issues rise from greed or need?
It doesn’t have to be either/or, you do it my way or you force me to do it your way. We can turn toward one another, listen, learn, find new answers in a challenging world. Who can you trust? How do you know they are trustworthy?