Alternative spin being that Americans are at their most informed state in recorded history. Preserving faith in the US institutions requires earnestly trusting to the US institutions opinions of themselves. I'm not seeing the evidence that the institutions themselves have declined - if anything, they are more reliable than normal. Political corruption is really hard to hide these days and the power structures are well traced out. The inability of the US powers that be to keep things like Epstein's Island or the global spying apparatus out of public consciousness is really telling. Names like Wikileaks and OpenSecrets couldn't have existed outside this century.
The real worry I have is that people will break something important chasing an illusory good-old-days that never existed. The proper answer is to reduce the power of government so the corruption doesn't spread as far.
The real worry I have is that people will break something important chasing an illusory good-old-days that never existed. The proper answer is to reduce the power of government so the corruption doesn't spread as far.