World and Our Youth Losing Faith In America

“Ahead of the November presidential election, just 19% of Americans say democracy in the United States is a good example for other countries to follow,” Janell Fetterolf and Sofia Hernandez Ramones wrote for Pew Research earlier this year.
This is a stunning result and an indictment of our current political system, which is now incessantly undercut by false information, outright lies, and a hyper-partisan electorate willing to believe anything that supports their point of view, no matter how outrageously false.
“The most common view – held by 72% of Americans – is that democracy in the U.S. used to be a good example, but has not been in recent years,” Fetterolf and Ramones write.
Young people are more cynical about America as a good example of democracy with 11% saying it never has been versus just 4% over the age of 50 feeling that way, according to Pew.
We are no longer used as an example of a good form of government to embrace for other countries. The rotting of our information systems, the neglect of our schools in teaching civics, and the willing acceptance and support of outright lies from politicians.
“Around two-thirds of adults in Canada (67%) and Japan (65%) say democracy in the U.S. used to be a good example,” Pew reported. Just 22% in Italy think the U.S. is a good example of democracy. Only 15% in Spain, 13% in Britain, 10% in Sweden, 9% in Germany, and 5% in Australia think we are a good example.
When we put party over country, it diminishes us as individuals. It reveals hypocrisy as we set aside closely held beliefs for political gain. When we take on these characteristics as a society, as we have, the world thinks less of us and our debased representative democracy.
People constantly ask, “Can’t we do better than this?” when it comes to our choices of candidates. At times they are right. We can and should do better. At the same time, they dismiss even solid candidates who would do right by the country if they are of the other party. We romanticize the past and degrade the present as social media and a hyper-partisan television news world push false information.
We would ask many of those people who question the quality of our candidates, “Can you do better at putting aside blind political loyalty and the demonization of those you disagree with? Can you make choices that restore faith in America’s representative democracy in the world?”
Lies, as long as they energize the base of a website’s followers or a TV station’s viewers, are profitable. As long as the profits roll in, truth is an inconvenience and a victim.
We are becoming a willingly gullible and highly partisan nation.
We lose faith in our leaders in all aspects of life when they support actions inconsistent with their beliefs. Trust is built when we see sacrifice to hold true to our core beliefs; it is lost when we see those beliefs become flexible for gain, whether political, financial, or social.
Sacrifice is often punished these days rather than rewarded.
Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney is a prime example of this reality. She is a staunch conservative. She is pro-life, and pro-gun rights. She supports conservative appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. She opposes over-regulation on businesses. Cheney has supported Republican positions on climate. Out of respect for her leadership qualities and political adherence to the party’s core beliefs, she held the third most powerful position in the Republican Party in the House.
Yet, when she refused to support former President Donald Trump’s attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and said the presidential election had been fair and accurate, she was booted from Republican leadership and lost her re-election bid.
Whether you agree with her or not, her political courage to stand up for what she believes, despite the loss of power and her political future, must be admired.
“Americans think the public’s trust has been declining in both the federal government and in their fellow citizens,” Lee Rainie and Andrew Perrin of the Pew Research Center write. Their research is part of Pew’s focus on issues tied to trust, facts, and democracy.
“Seventy percent of Americans believe that citizens’ low trust in each other makes it harder to solve problems,” Pew Research found. When our leaders at the local, state, and federal levels justify expediency and power over principle, we are given permission to do the same.
Trust comes from respect. When we lose respect, we lose trust. Respect is built on a foundation of consistency, reliability, and sacrifice in upholding your beliefs. We see too little of this today.
A December 2021 study by Harvard’s Institute of Politics found that 52% “believe that the country’s democracy is either ‘in trouble’ or ‘a failed democracy.’”
“Another poll conducted in 2021 found that ‘Not only do younger Americans express greater skepticism about American democracy, their doubts extend to feelings about being American and whether the US serves as a moral example in the world,’” Austin Sarat wrote in an article for  The Hill.
Young people, the foundation of tomorrow’s democracy, have less pride in America than their parents or grandparents, he wrote. But what Sarat found most alarming about the study’s findings was this: “Young adults, regardless of education level, lack basic civic knowledge.”
“Eighty-six percent believe it is possible to improve peoples’ confidence in each other,” Rainie and Perrin write. “They say local communities can be laboratories for trust-building as a way to confront partisan tensions and overcome tribal divisions.”
But when we lose local news, and focus turns to national news, we become more polarized. Supporting local news, then, is essential to building a more trusting society with citizens willing to engage peacefully with one another.
Trusted sources of information become fewer each day as the financial security of local newspapers is weakened, and with it, their ability to speak truth to power and to their community.