What can happen when citizens lose faith in government

An NPR story (March 8, 2012) described an example of what can happen when faith in government is lost. This is from Japan, where its citizens have lost faith in their government's ability to act competently on an important issue.

A simple story

The story is simple. On March 8, 2011, Japan was hit with a massive earthquake and tsunami. That caused damage and a meltdown of a nuclear power plant in Fukushima Japan. Today, one year after the disaster, only two of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors are active. Before the disaster, Japan got about one-third of its electric power from nuclear plants. Now it gets essentially none and has to import energy. The Japanese government's response to the disaster has been inept.

 B2 Spirit bomber en route to Guam

April 6, 2005

With logical consequences

The reason that Japan's nuclear power plants are off-line is that the government's failure to competently respond to the meltodwn caused the Japanese people to simply lose faith in their government, not necessarily in nuclear power. That has major geopolitical effects on Japan's policies. Japan now needs to get gas from Russia to replace the lost energy. Before the disaster, Japan wanted to distance itself from Russia but is now compelled to do the opposite. Japan's balance of trade has taken a hit to pay for imported energy.

What does that have to do with U.S. politics?

That story is a warning. Most of the American public has lost faith in congress - it has a low approval rating. If the endless stream of vitriol and hate gushing from the republican primaries is any indication, most or all Republicans profoundly distrust President Obama and/or believe he is an alien extremist working to destroy America. That clearly reflects a loss of faith by the segment of the public that that rhetoric appeals to. There is a continuing trend in people registering as independents. That clearly reflects a lack of faith in both the democratic and republican parties. Moderates leave congress citing a loss of faith in the institution, among other things.

 B2 Spirit bomber taking off from Andersen Air Force Base

Guam, March 30, 2005

As the Japan story shows, bad things can happen when citizens lose faith in their government. Despite obvious warnings coming from the American public, the two-party system just carries on with partisan business as usual, i.e., spin, lies, obfuscation and catering to inane ideology and special interests with money. Maybe the two-party system should step back, take their hands off each other's throat for a moment and think real hard about what it is they are doing to trust in our political system and institutions. The two parties treat public trust as if it is an irrelevant and/or endless resource. They assume that at our peril, not theirs.