MCCOTTER: An Independence Day Reflection

This Independence Day brings a palpable lessening of patriotism and a dearth of public trust in America’s governmental institutions, most notably at the federal level.  True, one can be patriotic and still distrust government; and one can trust government but not be patriotic.  (For example, one can trust a “woke” president but loathe the country’s history and its non-woke inhabitants.)  Yet, while not concomitant, the two ominous developments do tend to reinforce each other; and can even influence public perceptions of other institutions.  This explains, in part, a lack of confidence in other non-governmental institutions, such as large corporations. 

It is tempting to believe a singular major event or a rapid series of them is the cause of this, to use a quaint phrase, “crisis of confidence.”  But the lack of public trust in the federal government in particular, despite how it seems, is not the consequence of a si …