Trust: Earned, Never Given.
In this fractious time I sometimes hear calls to restore trust in our critical institutions. I disagree. Instead, let our critical institutions prove themselves trustworthy.
Let me explain.
Many of our country’s once authoritative institutions now no longer enjoy widespread confidence among the American people. The credibility crisis extends from the federal government through the universities, scientific establishments, media outlets, tech and pharmaceutical companies, all the way to local health officials, pastors, police, and school boards.
A Pew Research report published earlier this year shows the percentage of Americans with a great deal of confidence in medical scientists is down from 40% to 29%. The military is down from 39% to 25%. Journalists, corporate leaders, and politicians are even worse than that. [1]
If unsurprising, it is nevertheless bad news. The responsibilities born by these institutions represent, in most cases, important functions that a free society needs performed in a competent and trustworthy manner. When we board airplanes, I’d wager that most of us trust that the pilot is well-trained and competent. If an airlines’ track record demonstrated otherwise, it would likely go out of business, as well it should.
But many of the institutions that have lost the most credibility will not go out of business because they are government bodies or directly related to and supported by the government. Which institutions are least trustworthy to you depends a bit on your political views. But a few major players in this category might be the FDA, CDC, NIH, and the largest pharmaceutical, financial, defense, and media companies. If we lose confidence in many of these organizations, they do not simply go out of business. Their work is so wrapped up in the interests of the government that consumers have only slight and indirect influence over them.
In the American system, the only recourse of the voter is to vote. But while the two dominant parties flip flop power at the state and federal level, the vast majority of government work, including the taxing and spending, occurs within an unelected bureaucracy that changes very little with the party in power. Republicans and Democrats express their frustrations in distrust of different institutions. For Republicans, public schools poll very low. For Democrats, it’s the police.
But government revenue keeps coming through taxes whether or not the taxpayer trusts that the money is being used in a just and prudent manner. When the people lose trust, they still have to pay taxes and obey what they might perceive to be unjust mandates and laws. The danger of a situation like this is that the taxpayer might be forced to obey, but does so with increasing resentment and detachment from a sense of responsibility for the common good.
Trust is like a cultural fertilizer. Where it exists, things grow quickly—businesses, relationships, and opportunities abound. It’s an essential ingredient for the flourishing of human communities. Because of this, it is important that we restore trust in our critical institutions, and within our culture at large.
But there is one catch—trust has to be earned, it cannot simply be given.
Marines will often say of the title Marine that it must be earned and is never given. One of the Corps’ doctrinal texts entitled Warfighting, describes trust as essential to the life and death functioning of leaders and units. “Trust,” it says, “is a product of confidence and familiarity. Confidence among comrades results from demonstrated professional skill.”[2]
Demonstrated professional skill is the standard to which we should hold all our critical institutions. Fancy credentials and degrees ought to represent professional skill, but they are not the same as actually demonstrating that skill. Having a Ph.D. does not make you a great teacher or scholar. It’s the other way around—demonstrating great teaching and scholarship should be necessary to hold a Ph.D., but they are not the same thing. Or as the Scottish poet Robert Burns put it: “the rank is but the guineas’ stamp, the man’s the gold for all that.”
As far as our institutions go, the ball is in their court to earn trust by demonstrating professional skill. In the sciences this will involve efforts to engage with diverse studies and draw reasonable conclusions from them rather than stifling studies or scientists whose work diverges from a pre-conceived consensus. The truth should have nothing to fear and no need to censor others.
For corporations, tech or pharmaceutical for example, simply deliver the product and try not to be evil in the meantime. I’d venture a guess that most Americans do not want a side of surveillance with their serving of gadgets. And if a medical product works, it probably doesn’t need mandates in order for the people who want it to take it.
Oh, and how about finance…FTX anyone? Is it any wonder that folks are beginning to lose trust?
It is not the public’s responsibility to trust blindly a credentialed class and the institutions that they run. Trust will follow demonstrated professional skill. If they want trust, let them be worthy of trust.
[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/02/15/americans-trust-in-scientists-other-groups-declines/
[2] https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/MCDP%201%20Warfighting.pdf
This article first appeared in the Dallas Morning News at: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2022/12/11/trust-is-earned-never-given/
That Robert Burns quote is new to me but spot on.