The “expert” gatekeepers of the D.C. Uniparty Swamp increasingly lament that Americans don’t like or trust their governing institutions or those that run them anymore. Given the forever wars, COVID lockdowns, and whatever else the feds have lied to us about Americans have good reason not to trust the Beltway. But these commentators miss out on a much more important question – should Americans ever trust our government at all?
In the case of the United States, the answer is a resounding “no.” Anti-government sentiment, from the presidency to Congress and even the military – something Americans might find shocking today considering how much respect the military has commanded since the World Wars – is hardcoded into the national DNA.
Americans historically had very negative attitudes towards anything associated with secular authority – an attitude consistent with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, whose rights are God-given.
The Founders railed against centralized authority, particularly against the idea of a standing (i.e. federalized professional) force. That is why the Second Amendment was created, for instance. It allowed distrustful citizens to keep the national army in check if a tyrannical president attempted to usurp people’s rights. The rest of the Bill of Rights ensured that states could regulate their own internal affairs based on the morals and values of their inhabitants. There was no blanket power to tax either, because since when have governments ever been “trustworthy” with that power?
A mural depicts the first US President and a member of the Freemasons, George Washington, as he lays the cornerstone of the US Capitol on September 18, 1793, in Memorial Hall at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia 20 November 2007. Washington is wearing full Masonic regalia. AFP PHOTO/SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
The creators of the U.S. government did not intend for people to trust them or their successors with anything – no matter how well the federal government functioned. After all, they gave their own population the means to shoot them. And living today, we can see why. Trusting our government has yielded a war-hungry military-industrial-political complex that uses a professional army to create conflicts and instability abroad to justify a slo-mo totalitarian clampdown here. Or as James Madison put it, “liberty everywhere [is] crushed between standing armies and perpetual taxes.”
Nevertheless, American society wouldn’t work without trust going somewhere. Otherwise, it would be corrupt, authoritarian, and likely a lot dirtier. Historically, Americans placed their trust in local institutions and their natural extensions – namely churches and their constituent families. An American church, whether in a small town or urban neighborhood, included local politicians, law enforcement/sheriffs, business owners, and more – the people with power to shield their constituents from government overreach. Often, they were related to their congregants through blood/culture and marriage. Such communities faithful to a divine law, its institutions and each other rather than man-made anti-nature diktats have no use for the Gavin Newsoms and Gretchen Whitmers of the world.
But that is not just theory. Soviet KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov said this in a 1984 interview. And we saw, as recently as 30 years ago, that when communities in seemingly impossible situations come together, they can slay giants. That’s why the liberal media celebrates the decline of American Christianity at every opportunity. It’s also why they immediately shut down churches during COVID. (RELATED: GAMA SOSA: Why Do Leftists Promote Obesity, Crappy Architecture, And Other Ugly Monstrosities?)
The Bolsheviks’ ideological successors are dividing and conquering America, weaponizing mistrust at every turn. Only Americans – not just Trump, DeSantis, or the congressional GOP – can defeat it. Fortunately, Americans have a blueprint for such a national revival – in the revolutions of 1989-91 that brought down the most centralizing political ideology in history.
The communist Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc states did not fall solely because of economics. Communist Poland fell because people bound together by a belief in their country’s history and the Catholic Church trusted each other to fight under God for a brighter future despite the risk of betrayal to the secret police. East Germany’s fall began when Lutheran parishioners decided enough was enough and trusted each other to protest despite Stasi infiltration of their churches.
1989-1991 was a lesson to the Beltway wannabe totalitarians on how things end when a people is united against them. It terrifies them, and rightly so. American distrust of government is a great start and heralds the possibility that we could still make it as a country. But we need to take the next step and start building trust among ourselves. And it starts with something as simple as greeting your neighbor.
Michele Gama Sosa is an opinion editor for the Daily Caller and a historian by training.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.