On Trust and Power

I woke up this morning wanting to write a post about trust and power. More specifically, I wanted to write about the abuse of trust and power.

Right now our nation is at a crossroads. As we change from one Administration to another, we find ourselves re-examining the way we trust our leadership. We question the power we place in their hands and how they use that power. We leave behind an Administration that has asked us repeatedly to trust them to do the right thing, only to have them repeatedly abuse our trust and their power. From Iraq to the bail out of Wall Street, they have proved that they are undeserving of our trust and incapable of handling power responsibly. In each instance, Americans are left scratching their heads with one hand while holding the proverbial bag with the other.

And then we begin to question our judgment. How could we be so wrong, so many times? How can we fall for this time and again? What's wrong with us?

What does the future hold? Will the Obama Administration take us for the same kind of wild ride? Will they be inclined to make unilateral decisions that affect the world? Will they use propaganda to spread fear and distrust so that they can set themselves up as the great protector in order to amass more power?

What will they do with that power? Good? Bad? Enrich themselves and their friends? We've offered them the opportunity to make positive change and now all we can do is trust that they will do the right thing. Each of us has our own ideas about what the right thing is, but I think we all understand that the dynamic we've become accustomed to vis a vis our government is unhealthy and unworthy of the representative republic we are.

Still, it's hard to not want our trust to be rewarded with good things, with positive change, with peace. Here's hoping we won't be disappointed again.