Americans Have Lost Faith in America
Where Will It End?
There might have been a day when Americans believed in something.
Yeah, maybe my parents or their parents had a measure of trust when it came to society. For example, maybe they believed that our libraries were special or that their family doctor was dependable.
Maybe they requested Mrs. Johnson, their third-grade teacher, for little Sally Anne because Mrs. Johnson was well loved by more than one generation of kids. Plus, their doctor had been their family doctor for decades. He even made house calls on rare occasions when all five siblings were sick at the same time.
Those were the days, eh?
There’s a good chance, however, that Mrs. Johnson wasn’t perfect or that the family doctor wasn’t always able to make us well. Even the library was closed on Sundays and there were waiting lists for the most popular books.
We don’t remember all the inconveniences and disappointments because our minds tend to make a blur of memories from bygone days.
Suffice it to say, however, we’re often encompassed with a cozy feeling when we reflect on the past. Was there a stronger sense of community back in the day? Were we more forgiving of our neighbor’s flaws? Was Mrs. Johnson always cheerful? Did our family doctor greet us on the street with a big smile?
Maybe. Maybe not.
But these days, everyone seems much less reliable. We don’t treasure our public libraries as gifts to the community nor do we have a long relationship with our doctor. In fact, we don’t even trust our doctor to make good choices for us. So, we attempt to research everything he prescribes.
Whatever makes a society a society, Americans aren’t buying any of it.
All the trust is gone and with it a sense of security, fake or real, as well. We don’t have faith in any of our institutions. Whether it’s our local bank, universities, health care system, police department, public schools, even our postal service, are all under attack. Our faith in the very things that make a society a society has eroded over the years.
Without them, we no longer support collective endeavors, because we lack the will to sacrifice for the common good.
We stop investing in our infrastructures years ago. We refuse to support education. Public health policies are ignored even resented. Our entire outlook is self-centered because we no longer trust anyone.
In fact, we hate each other as well and everything that makes a society a society, we’re anxious to trash, destroy.
Our politicians seem seedier and greedier than those of the past. We shop at big box stores where no one knows our name or online where we never see a merchant’s face. Our neighbors are less neighborly and our children less apt to play together. There seems to be more violent crime and our economy is in constant disarray.
Even our families are broken down and dysfunctional.
Churches have lost our support as more and more clergy and priests have been scrutinized and come up seriously lacking as godly examples. Many who have remained religious now practice a faith of their own design.
With this lack of trust, we have become more isolated.
There’s no longer a strong sense of cohesiveness but rather a feeling that we’re all on our own. Individualism isn’t just an ideology that we use to define our unique culture but a necessity due to a dire lack of trust.
As mistrust grows, anger is the dominant emotional response to problems.
There’s even talk of a Civil War. Citizens threaten daily to expatriate to Canada. Sorry, Canada. We blame every institution that was designed specifically to enhance our society. Before they disappoint us again, we’re ready to literally destroy them.
There’s no sense of pride in our collective accomplishments.
In fact, we want to do away with our postal service and our neighborhood schools. Even our National Parks are on the chopping block. We no longer listen to our doctors’ advice. We rarely stand in our backyard engaged in friendly conversations over the fence with our next-door neighbor.
There’s a sense of decline as our roads continue to crumble and our infrastructure becomes increasingly outdated.
Our anxiety peaks. Suicide rates go up. Depression is the norm. We lash out more often at one another. There’s a sense of doom due to an inability to fix anything.
We fight rather than cooperate.
Without our educators, doctors, bankers, merchants, neighbors, libraries, scientists, even museums and art galleries, we’d no longer have a society. We’d literally be on our own, angry anarchists, intent on individual survival.
Our anger drives us to attack one another, pushing us down the road closer and closer to a failed state and fascism.
Maybe I’m overreacting to the collective angst. Maybe it’ll all self-correct. Maybe it’s merely the growing pains that precede painful change. Maybe we know too much to ever return to the days of our naive ancestors.
I don’t know, but something is going on.
Teresa is a retired educator, author, world traveler, and professional myth buster. You can find her books on Amazon.
