The Crisis of Credibility

With all the back-and-forth in the media, the talk-radio circuits and the myriad political and "news" websites these days, the average citizen is sorely tempted to tune out and simply ignore everyone.

The basic message from both sides of various fights currently in full flame across the nation can be reduced to a simple question: "Who can you trust?" Unfortunately, the answer many of us on main street are coming to is simply this: "Nobody!"

So how did we get to a place where everyone on every side of every political debate is skeptical or openly disbelieving of various government officials or agencies? One side says we can't trust the president, while the other side says the FBI is playing politics. One side says the Russians are tainting our elections, while the other side says that power brokers and political operatives are to blame. Am I the only one who is tempted to believe that both sides are correct?

As a criminal defense attorney, I read probable cause statement and talk with accused persons every week. In federal cases, some of the reports and statements I read actually do come from the FBI or other federal agencies. Most of the time, the probable cause statements are written by city or county or state police officers. Most of these statements get most of the facts correct most of the time. However, most of these statements also include entirely subjective assertions that are nearly impossible to disprove (because they are subjective) but that are also highly suspicious in the overall context.

I would like to suggest that the problem I deal with routinely at a local level in criminal court is simply a small scale but high volume version of what we are experiencing at the national level currently with various investigations and memos. And the stakes are also the same...citizens are left with serious questions about who they can trust.

Thankfully, the solution is relatively simple in concept (even if painful or difficult in execution). What all of us are craving, no matter our opinions or political affiliations, is more real transparency and more real accountability within our political and legal systems. We want to be confident that when a police-involved shooting is ruled justified the investigation was done properly and the conclusion is sound. We want to be confident that when individuals are arrested for various offenses (great or small) that the police followed the law themselves and respected the rights and privileges of the private individuals during the investigation and the arrest. We want to be confident that when the government declares something a matter of national security the analysis leading to that conclusion was based on real security concerns and not on political or inappropriately practical considerations.

If I can dare to speak for the American people, I believe the message we all want to convey in these troubled times is this: "We want our country back!"

We're tired of being manipulated by scare tactics and blanket assertions about national security or protecting sources and methods. We're tired of being treated like we are too stupid or too inept to actually process the raw data ourselves and make up our own minds. We're tired of power brokers in both dominant parties constantly using the media to redirect attention to side shows and smoke screens. We're tired of propaganda and political theater.

To my fellow citizens, I must apologize for not having any real solution to offer. To those who represent our government at any level, I appeal to you on behalf of my friends and neighbors to reconsider your role as a "public servant" to place the emphasis more on "servant."

If we don't face this crisis of credibility now, it will almost certainly boil over into violence and chaos at some point in the not-so-distant future. I, for one, am not in favor of a Second American Civil War or anything at all resembling one. The only solution is for government to once again be a government "of the people, by the people and for the people" and to willingly and voluntarily accept its moral (if not legal) obligation to be transparent in its activities and accountable to the people it serves.