Recent findings indicate that many Americans have increasingly become distrustful of their government. In fact, only a quarter of all citizens have anything positive to say about the government (Volgy 27). The president’s office is usually held in high esteem but currently, it is facing increasing criticism, and this has been the trend for the last few decades. For instance, President Dwight D. Eisenhower who was an American darling when he first ascended to power found his approval ratings dwindle five years into his presidency. Things were even worse for President Clinton whose honeymoon with the American public ended three months into his presidency. Currently, almost everything that the president does is viewed with an utmost pessimism by the public. This pessimism is increasing and currently, “more than twice as many people today, compared to thirty years ago believe that the government does not serve their interests” (Volgy, 24). Many believe that the government is not doing enough when it comes to dealing with the critical issues in the society. Unlike the olden days, holding a public office is currently viewed as dishonorable profession. In simple terms, democracy seems to be in the course of trouble in America and this can be attributed to declining trust, empathy, and civic engagement within the political structure of the nation.
It is not only decreased trust in public institutions that is a threat to democracy. The concept of democracy is also in trouble because of the declining empathy on the part of the public towards those in the political arena. Empathy is declining at a fast rate, and many Americans do not understand what politicians do. One of the reasons for declining empathy is the people’s perception of government performance. The people believe that the government has failed to remedy the problems that ail the society, and this is a major reason for the declining empathy. The other major reasons why the level of empathy in the nation has been decreasing is because the role of mediating institutions in the nation (political parties) has declined.
Partisanship is thing of the past and strong alignment to political parties has decreased. In fact, there are currently very many citizens exhibiting neutral feelings towards the two major political parties in the nation. The existence of strong party affiliation in the political culture means that less understanding and empathy is required from citizens. Greatly rooting for or and having a deep belief in a party can dampen disappointment with political setbacks and failures because citizens view these failures and setbacks as temporary and unfortunate. This has not been the case in recent days, however, where party affiliation has declined leading increased misunderstanding and criticism towards the government by the people.
The decline in empathy as mentioned earlier is accompanied by a decline in trust. The perceived failure of the government to address the major problems that face the society is not however all that contributes to declining trust and empathy towards the government and those in the public office. Because of various other reasons, people no longer comprehend the circumstances surrounding those who govern them (Volgy, 31). This is increasingly causing the public to fall prey to simplistic explanations in regard to why things are currently not working the way the public would want them to work. This in spite of the fact the access to information is greater than ever before. Technology has greatly revolutionized the way people access information. Even with this enormous access to information, people still have very little inkling regarding the daily lives of those in office.
The media has also played its part in decreasing the public’s trust in the government. For a long time, studies have shown that the media plays a huge role in shaping the citizens’ attitude towards the governance system and those in power. Previously, critical media attention on the government seemed to signify a lack of waste in the government and citizens were hugely trustful of the government. Trust in government was also tied to trust in Congress. Unfortunately, the current media places more emphasis on negative criticism of the government and the Congress, and this only helps to fuel further the distrust that the current public has towards the government (Moy and Scheufele 747).
One of the elements of the government is the judiciary and recently, the media has increasingly shown the current inadequacy of the judiciary element of government. The recent events of Ferguson is an example of this. There has been so much attention focused on the judiciary with some media sources only criticism the current judicial criticizes and rallying behind the citizens why are calling for a complete judicial overhaul. This is another example of how the media can influence the people’s trust of their government.
The declining trust and empathy towards the government and those in public offices is also tied to another element, civic engagement that has also been on the decline. Declining civic engagement, just like declining empathy can be tied to the nation’s mediating institutions whose prominence and role has been on the decline. However, in regards to civic engagement, it is not the political parties that are in the spotlight. It is rather the non-profit and voluntary organizations as well as activities in the nation that promote a sense of civic culture and in the process increase ruts and empathy towards democracy and the government. Civic engagement signifies strong involvement with neighborhood groups, voluntary organizations, and churches. This promotes positive norms in the community including trustworthiness, tolerance and collaboration for long term political success (Volgy 33). Without this civic engagement, the community feels exploited, powerless and unhappy. Decreasing civic engagement is, therefore, attributable to decreased involvement with non-political mediating institutions.
All these aspects have in one or another challenges the democracy of the nation. Democracy can only exist in culture that supports it and the current trend of declining trust and empathy in the government as well as declining civic engagement shows that democracy in the nation is in trouble (De Tocqueville 15). In addition, the sustenance of democracy is also dependent on the robustness of a nation’s mediating institutions, both political and non-political. These institutions are supposed to teach a sense of community, habits of participation, political tolerance for long-term problem solving and finally the qualities required for maintenance and success of democratic governance (Volgy 25). The fact these are missing from the current American political system and the trend of declining trust, empathy and civic engagement presents a great challenge to democracy. The failure of the government to address key societal issues and the lack of production of decent policies may lead the people to start searching for non-democratic solutions to the problems that ail them.
Works Cited
Volgy, Thomas J. Politics in the trenches: citizens, politicians, and the fate of democracy. University of Arizona Press, 2001.
Moy, Patricia, and Dietram A. Scheufele. "Media effects on political and social trust." Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 77.4 (2000): 744-759.
De Tocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in America. Vol. 147. Digireads. Com Publishing, 2004.
