In 2007, a Gallup poll showed that American confidence in the U.S. Congress was at 14% favorable, a historical low at the time, and even lower than the 40% it was during the Watergate era of the 1970s. If you think 2007 was bad, in August 2022, it has dropped to a miserable 7%, the lowest ever recorded. This, unfortunately, is true of most of our institutions. Only small business (68%) and the military (64%) have the confidence of more than half of American, according to Gallup in 2022.
There’s a tendency to blame the dismal state of the economy for the lack of confidence, and that’s probably true, but I think there are other reasons—one in particular being the insane behavior of certain GOP members of Congress.
In just the first seven months of 2023, for example, some of the things that have been done or said by elected members of the United States Congress have been more like the antics of a room full of first graders in need of Prozac than supposedly mature, intelligent legislators.
Take for example, the recently elected senator from Alabama, a former football coach with zero military background or experience, putting a hold on all Department of Defense nominations because he disagrees with the department’s views on what kind of medical support and care is appropriate for its members (i.e., DOD offers support for gender transition care for transgender dependents, and support for service members seeking abortions). The good senator feels that this violates his beliefs, therefore, no one else should do it. Be damned if it negatively affects readiness and troop performance. Oh, and by the way, no more diversity training in the military because ‘woke’ is bad for morale. I think he probably read that on a cereal box in some Q-Anon adherent’s pantry.
Then, there’s the GOP committee that is seeking testimony from a lawyer regarding the president’s son’s business connections in China. Then, the same committee chairman said that this ‘informant’ had disappeared and asked Fox Business News to help find him. He hadn’t really vanished, though. Turns out he was under indictment by DOJ as an unregistered agent of China and had been trying to broker the sale of weapons and Iranian oil in violation of laws and sanctions.
There’s more, lots more, but I don’t believe in overkill. It’s just that every time I decide to watch TV news—and there are certain (unnamed) channels I will not watch—I’m reminded of why I stopped watching TV news in the first place. The only thing I’m left wondering is this—who are that 7% of people who still have confidence in such a dysfunctional institution?