What has happened to trust? When did we lose it? Why did we lose it? These are the questions I ask myself when I hear of people who don’t trust the government. Many don’t believe our leaders in regard to COVID-19 recommendations, gun rights, climate change, whether or not to trust the police in their treatment of Black individuals, and whether the 2020 election results were stolen.

These trust issues didn’t emerge overnight. They have been building for decades. Mistrust began with President Eisenhower when he was caught in a lie over the Soviet shoot-down of a U-2 spy plane. President Johnson lied about the Vietnam Conflict. President Nixon degraded trust with the Watergate break-in and then tried to cover up the crime. President Clinton lied about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

President Trump accused the bureaucracy of being a “deep state” trying to thwart his programs and actions. He accused the media of broadcasting “fake news” — in other words, lying. Ironically, it was a part of the media, Fox News, that supported him, shamelessly spreading lies. Their commentators twisted information and then successfully defended their actions in court with their “Tucker Carlson argument” that no reasonable person would believe what Carlson and by extrapolation, Fox News, said.

Before and after the 2020 election Trump argued that the election was stolen. He degraded the USPS in order to discourage voting. He encouraged his supporters to come to the Capitol to “stop the steal.” This resulted in an attempt to overthrow the election with the sacking of the Capitol. He and his allies argued that election laws needed to be changed to prevent unsubstantiated voter fraud. This has occurred in several states since the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The 2020 census has shown that the population of whites has actually declined while that of minorities has increased. This information will threaten many whites. Some, due to the increased population of minority groups and the LGBTQ community, believe that we should shuck our representative democracy and take on a dictatorship.

The leadership of a major political party and a former president continue to spew lies. These words and actions have continued to degrade trust.

Millions of people have refused to get their COVID-19 vaccinations because they don’t trust the government. Many think it is trying to use the pandemic to insert microchips into their bodies to either track them or kill them. Others resist vaccinations because the FDA has not yet formally approved the vaccines.

There is a general consensus that there is little trust between political parties and among citizens of differing political persuasions. The deep question is: How do we heal the rift and suspicion between the two polarized camps?

Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said one way is for the Republican leadership to quit lying to their supporters. There has been movement on this since several Republican leaders including Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), Adam Kinziner (R-Illinois), Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), Sen. Mitch McConnell, Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas gubernatorial candidate Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and West Virginia governor Jim Justice (R) have encouraged their constituents to get vaccinated, offering lottery prizes and college scholarships.

The ones who are getting infected and being hospitalized with the Delta variant have been 99.9-plus percent unvaccinated people who live in low-vaccinated red states.

Internet giants like Google, Facebook and YouTube have banned ads of politicians who have been spreading lies. Last week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) was banned from YouTube for seven days for telling lies about COVID-19. For those of you who are concerned about First Amendment free speech rights being violated, the First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law…abridging freedom of speech.” Private businesses have no such restrictions.

President Biden has worked to end the divisions by getting bipartisan support for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that just passed the Senate last week, with 50 Democrats and 19 Republicans voting for it.

Providing subsidies to young families with children through December 2021 will help to ease the insecurity engendered by COVID-19. Fear has helped to cause the political divisions. This government money will bring millions of American children out of poverty. The more secure people feel, the less dogmatic and politicized they are likely to become.

Even nature is helping. Nature is nonpartisan. Concern for safety during forest fires, droughts, hurricanes and tornadoes unites us against a common foe.

The tide of lies that helped engender the political divisions are slowly being muted. Hopefully, many of the dogmatic Americans of both the left and the right will come to their senses for the common good. Let’s hope so for the survival of our representative democracy!