Regaining Trust — It's Not Impossible

In the area of public policy, when a person leads they develop a level of trust and receive respect from the citizens, which raises their moral authority to lead.

In the last several years across the wide spectrum of the political world, there has been a collapse of credibility and the moral authority one has to lead people. Once trust is lost it can be rebuilt, but it takes time to rebuild the trust level needed to be effective in the political world. Many people I speak with today have come to the place they openly express their dislike for and their distrust of any person in the political world in every level; local, state and federal. It is unfortunate that a few bad apples can spoil the entire batch. It is true in the political world, as in life, there are corrupt and bad people in every area of life. Knowing there is a criminal element in society does not mean the entire society is corrupt. Knowing there are people who lie, cheat and steal in the political world does not mean they are all corrupt and dishonest.

It is my experience that the majority of the people I know in the political world are doing the best they can under the system in which they are serving. Their decisions are being made with the best knowledge they have at the time when the decision is made. It is true, history is filled with stories of people who served long years in public life and got away with fooling the people only to be later discovered dishonest. The record is filled also with vast numbers of people who serve in public life and who give of all they have in energy and time to serve the people the best way they know how, given all that is taking place around them.

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It is too easy to paint with a wide brush and claim that every person in the political world is dishonest. It is an injustice to use that wide brush to paint all who serve in public office as if they are serving only for self and what they get out of it.

We know there are agendas in place where some people think they can use their position as a stepping stone to other places of service and use their influence to feather their own nest and make a name for themselves. Those people are usually exposed and not allowed to make it up the ladder of success as they define it in the political world. We also know that there are those people in public office who are inept and unable to make correct decisions. Many times, they are also exposed in making bad choices and decisions that come back to show up their inabilities.

From where I stand, it is imperative during the primary and general election process for the right decisions to be made about the persons running for office.

What does it take for a politician to regain your trust? Tell us in the comments section below. 

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