While I am in whole hearted agreement that the cost overrun should have been presented at a public committee hearing, I think you grossly overweight the significance of this example as to why the public trust in institutions has dropped since the 70's. We have always had this kind of misstep by governmental officials. The Oregonian has covered scandals for the past century and I doubt that they are any worse than they were 50 or 100 years ago.
There are a lot of reasons for the drop in public trust and I don't have a perfect list, but we should remember out history. We had a period of national institutional support during WWII up until the Vietnam War. Prior to WWII there were enormous scandals at all levels of government. Just read a few Will Rogers or Upton Sinclair stories. What is different after the 70's is that all our institutions have suffered, not just government. Churches and priests, schools and teachers, businesses, clubs, the military have all dropped in terms of trust. I cannot thinks of a single profession or institution that has not suffered a decline in respect.
We can debate the reasons - Nixon, Vietnam, sexual abuse, generational conflict all played a part. However, we also have to include the media post Nixon. The press has dwelt on conflict and scandal to sell papers or attract eyeballs ever since. Some of that attention is good, like the exposure of the cost overrun, but some of it is blown way out of perspective. Regardless, none of the issues in state government this year have caused the drop in institutional support from some nirvana in the 50's. There are much more fundamental reasons.
While I am in whole hearted agreement that the cost overrun should have been presented at a public committee hearing, I think you grossly overweight the significance of this example as to why the public trust in institutions has dropped since the 70's. We have always had this kind of misstep by governmental officials. The Oregonian has covered scandals for the past century and I doubt that they are any worse than they were 50 or 100 years ago.
There are a lot of reasons for the drop in public trust and I don't have a perfect list, but we should remember out history. We had a period of national institutional support during WWII up until the Vietnam War. Prior to WWII there were enormous scandals at all levels of government. Just read a few Will Rogers or Upton Sinclair stories. What is different after the 70's is that all our institutions have suffered, not just government. Churches and priests, schools and teachers, businesses, clubs, the military have all dropped in terms of trust. I cannot thinks of a single profession or institution that has not suffered a decline in respect.
We can debate the reasons - Nixon, Vietnam, sexual abuse, generational conflict all played a part. However, we also have to include the media post Nixon. The press has dwelt on conflict and scandal to sell papers or attract eyeballs ever since. Some of that attention is good, like the exposure of the cost overrun, but some of it is blown way out of perspective. Regardless, none of the issues in state government this year have caused the drop in institutional support from some nirvana in the 50's. There are much more fundamental reasons.
Excellent analysis, Mark.