Tea Party Movement and Trust in Government

Not surprising given attitudes on taxes, the countries trust in government has been trending downward for the better part of 50 years. Pew, in fact, finds that only one in five Americans trust the government today: http://slatest.slate.com/id/2251257/?wpisrc=newsletter. In the late 50s, almost 70 percent trusted the government, and even during he Nixon years, trust remained high. But since Watergate and the ascendancy of conservatives, trust has declined precipitously and has not improved under Obama. This seems to lend support to the argument that the Tea Party is reflecting the interests of the American people. And yet an article in The New Republic challenges the idea that they represents the "real America" at all. In fact, The New York Times and CBS News conducted a careful study of the group last week and found that they are more conservative than the average American, older, more affluent, Whiter and, not surprisingly, more racist (www.tnr.com/article/politics/the-populism-the-privileged?utm_source=TNR+Daily&utm_campaign=a691feb8b2-TNR_Daily_041910&utm_medium=email). So while trust is low, it is not clear that the average American does not want the government to step in and address some of the social and economic problems that plague us today. Yet the media has incessantly focused on this vituperative 20 percent and thus kept the focus away from the popular will. What a surprise!