Mistrust In The United States Essay

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However, this mistrust of government has been going on for many years and every since the late 1950s, more and more Americans have admitted to not trusting the government to do what is right for the country. This steady decline of trust is due not due to media, but also to certain historical events that have shown the weaknesses of the United States’ government such as the Vietnam War, Nixon’s Watergate scandal, Clinton’s sex scandal, War of Iraq, and 9/11. Additionally, these issues dealing with mistrust are often due to individual political leaders and not the entirety of the United States’ government. Nevertheless, the mistrust that many citizens feel towards the government plays a large role in creating tension within the political culture …show more content…

On this political spectrum, the three most common political ideologies in the United States include Conservative, Liberal, or Moderate beliefs. Conservatives believe that people should be responsible for their well being and should be able to function without too much government assistance. Most Conservatives oppose government interference in regards to private issues and do not favor federal regulations. However, they do approve of laissez-faire economics such as markets determining their own costs and acceptable practices of business. Liberals, however, believe that the government is able to have a great influence over the social and economic injustices of the marketplace. Liberals are prone to support government regulation of the economy and agree with affirmative action in helping to redress social injustices. Most liberals also support the theory of the government enforcing the separation of church and state which leads them to disagree with school-sponsored prayer and bans on abortions. Lastly, Moderates, the most common political ideology, are individuals who do not fall into either the Conservative or Liberal ideologies. Instead, Moderates believe themselves to be pragmatics who do not rely on philosophical principles, but instead on common sense when they are dealing with political problems. Therefore, the political spectrum of

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