Does government do what’s right, mostly?

Follow the descending graphs in Southern California News Group graphic artist Kurt Snibbe's full-page takeout in this past Sunday's paper, headlined “How we feel about politics,” and you will see on visual display the descent of Americans' public trust in government from 1958 to 2023.

In the Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy and early Lyndon Johnson presidential years from the late `50s into the early and middle `60s, the percentage of Americans who said that they trust government to do what is right just about always or at least most of the time was nearing 80%.

Mid-Johnson, the graph line takes a precipitous plunge, and keeps on going down through Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford until it almost bottoms out — for its time — late in the Jimmy Carter years at just above 20% before climbing again — temporarily — during the Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, late Bill Clinton and early George W. Bush years.

It doesn't take a particularly adept political analyst to note that the first fall in trust coincided with the Vietnam War and then Watergate scandal years.

Today, under 20% of Americans say they have much trust in government at all. It was under 20% in the Donald Trump era, and it's under 20% now under Joe Biden.

Do you trust government to do what's right, most of the time?

That's our Question of the Week for our readers.

If you share the majority opinion in the country that the federal government doesn't usually do what's right, does your faith rise as government gets more local? Do you have faith in your state leaders?

And, if not them, when politicians get closer to home and a bit easier to know and interact with, do you trust your county electeds more than the faraway ones in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.?

And how about the city level? If you live in an incorporated city with a City Council, candidates for which may even seek your vote by knocking on your door, does that increase your trust in government at the most intimate level? Or are you cynical about your local government, too?

Email your thoughts to opinion@scng.com. Please include your full name and city or community of residence. Provide a daytime phone number (it will not be published).