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Why Should We Trust You? Be Specific
The economic crisis in which the nation finds itself must, I believe, take precedence in the way I answer this question. I believe we have a national crisis of trust. When I teach "Introduction to Religion," I often say that the deepest religious question of all is "What can I trust?" We have a deep crisis in trust of our national leaders and that is a deeply religious crisis.
I believe that the widely reported anger and frustration of the American people is due to the fact that we have been lied to so many times by this Administration that we just don't believe the President or the Secretary of the Treasury or the head of the Federal Reserve when they say 'we've got to have this!' You had to attack Iraq because they were about to acquire weapons of mass destruction, right? And that was a big, fat lie. And you've been saying "the economy is fundamentally sound for nearly a year." And you said 'Brownie' was doing a 'heck of a job' in the failed FEMA response to Katrina. So why should we believe you now when you say you need $700 trillion dollars right away? Even Ronald Reagan warned, "Trust and verify."
I would ask each vice-presidential candidate to tell us, as the American people, why we should trust him or her to be someone who will now tell us the truth. I would ask very, very specific questions about half-truths and lies and exaggerations that have been reported each one has told I would not back off of the question until I got some clear answers.
Yes, I would also like to know from each vice-presidential candidate if he or she respects separation of church and state and will uphold the Constitutional prohibition of the establishment of religion. I would really like to know the answer to that question as well.
But if I could only have one question, it would have to be "Why should we trust you?" The crisis of trust in this administration is so severe that it is fraying whatever fabric is left of our national identity.
A bill addressing this financial crisis will be passed by Congress this week. Of that I am certain. The question is, will it be a wise bill that aims at the root of the problem, the mortgage debacle? Merely fixing the credit crunch will not be enough unless the root cause is also directly addressed. If Congress acts to help Main Street and also takes the worst of the bad debt off of the balance sheets, then Wall Street will gradually recover. With new regulation, capitalism will be able to do its job, that is, actually produce jobs that pay well. Consumers will regain confidence, credit will be available, houses will be bought, businesses will start or grow and the economy will expand.
But at the root is that trust question. If this November we don't elect a President and Vice President whom we trust to actually tell us the truth and put the welfare of the whole country before crass political manipulation, I think we're toast. The plan will be a sham, the fat cats on Wall Street will go back to ripping us off, and the country will slide into a severe recession.
Why should we trust you? It's a really important question.
By
Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite
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October 5, 2008; 9:27 AM ET
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Posted by: sparrow4 | October 5, 2008 1:51 PM
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Thank you for bringing another perspective to the table. If we can trust our leadership, our 'fear factor' will be reduced. If we can trust our leadership we may well follow their lead, even if *we* can't see the outcome, but they can. If we can trust them, no matter the party affiliation, we can find our identity again.
Posted by: caprell205 | October 1, 2008 10:06 PM
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They have to earn our trust again we have to understand we have problems to which there is no quick fix. we need to have a little patience and they have to prove they will set partisanship aside and do for the good of the people.
If I'm any judging of who is truly capable of that, going by the latest campaign news I venture to say McCain/Palin are total failures. From lack of qualifications to the prideful use of outright lies and negative campaigning, these two only illustrate too well the Rovian version of "trust me, trust me."
How am I going to trust someone who won't answer the most basic question of who she is and what she thinks? How do I trust someone whose judgment is more indicative of the desperate flailing of a drowning swimmer, not the leader we need? A man who stuck a plastic barbie doll in our faces and says "buy my dummy?"
Who knows if Obama/Biden will be able to do what we need. But at this point, the best I can say is they are the ones I am willing to let try to win my trust because up to now they've earned that much.