Broken Trust

          Have you ever been betrayed by a friend? Most of us have. How did it affect the relationship. How did the betrayal affect your opinion of that person? Did you ever trust them again?
Have you ever had a leader you didn’t trust? Again, most of us have. It may have been at work, in a social club, or a bowling league. Think about what that was like. How effective was that leader? How was the group’s morale? How efficient was the team?
            A wise friend of mine once said, “Trust is like porcelain. It can be mended, but the crack will always remain.”
            For the last six years, we have consistently betrayed and disrespected friends while broadcasting weakness to enemies. Our enemies now act with aggression unseen since 1945, emboldened by our empty words. Our allies withhold support, fearful of being left holding the bag.
            We insulted Great Britain by returning their gift of a bust of Winston Churchill and reciprocating the British gift of a desk made from timbers of the HMS Victory with an Ipod preloaded with the President’s speeches…Classy. We then forced Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to enter the Whitehouse through the back door on his first visit with our current commander in chief, who left in the middle of important talks to have dinner with his family while the leader of our strongest ally in the Middle East ‘worked things out’ with staffers. Our government also insists on calling ISIS ISIL, as slap in the face to every Israeli. Then, in an unbelievable act of betrayal and insensitivity, we announced the cancelation of the planned missile shield intended to defend Poland on September 17th, 2009, the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of that very country. Lastly, we cannot forget the American promise of protection to the Ukraine in exchange for dismantling their nuclear arsenal.
            Conversely, we have been very cozy with Hugo Chavez, promised ‘more flexibility’ to Putin regarding further degradations in European missile defense, and are now reaching out to Iran for help with ISIS (the non-Islamic Islamic state).
            So why can’t the President build a meaningful coalition to face ISIS or Russia?
Nobody trusts us.
I say “us” because the people committing these acts are elected by us. They represent us. And, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, they areus.
            The same holds true domestically. Campaign promises of prosperity for all have given way to the reality of massive increases in regulation, entitlements, and unemployment. Let’s not forget the skyrocketing national debt and the devaluation of the dollar.
            Businesses, like our global allies, must have faith in the future before they invest in it.
They don’t.
Excessive regulation by agencies from the IRS to the EPA continue to tighten the noose around both large and small businesses. When companies comply with the regulations, they change again. This uncertainty is poison to an economy. It discourages businesses from investment and growth.
Business is about numbers and number don’t lie. The media can spin the truth, but they can’t change it. Companies are sitting on top of huge reserves of cash, afraid to risk it on the unpredictable whims of autocrats.
            So why can’t the President revive this sluggish economy?
            Nobody trusts the government.
Nor do they trust a fickle public more concerned what happened in a casino elevator than the events at the American consulate in Benghazi, at least not when it comes to choosing leaders to set us back on course.
So there it is.
American impotence, foreign and domestic, can be pinned on a lack of trust. Our friends don’t trusts us to honor our commitments. Our enemies know we can’t be trusted to stop them. And our financial sector can’t trust its own government to play be the rules.
In the end it is us, the American people, who bear the burden of this predicament as well as the blame.
We elected these unscrupulous incompetents as a nation.
We ignored the results of their bungling as a culture.
We can, however, repair the damage they have done, but only if we act as a free and vigilant people.
We can take the first step in rebuilding America’s reputation in 2016.
By simply voting, speaking out, and demanding integrity from those we elect, we can restore America to her rightful place as the global beacon of freedom…love by her people, trusted by her friends, and feared by her enemies.