When I was in elementary school I remember having a lot of respect for our country’s government and for our elected officials. At that young age I had the opinion that the people we had chosen to run our country could do no wrong and that they could be trusted above all other. Back then my teachers always taught that government was something good that did not lie or cheat and that our democracy could solve any problem. Events that have taken place since then and wrong doings from our country’s past that I have learned about have slowly and gradually changed my opinion.
It all started with president Clinton. Being only three when he was first elected, Clinton was president for the majority of my childhood. I had grown to trust and respect him having been raised in a house full of democrats who praised his every decision. When the sex scandal came to light I remember being confused and a little shocked, but the thing that really got me was when Clinton straight face lied to the entire country, to people who had praised and voted for him twice. The guy did not even blink and gave a very convincing performance. At that point I realized my opinion about government was off and I could never truly trust any president ever again, but that was just one position, one president, one lier. I still had faith that the rest of our system was semi pure, then came Bush Jr. and the election of 2000. For someone who at the time was looking for reasons to trust our country’s system again, that was excruciating. How could I believe a president who had taken office after such a controversial election, let alone be alright with his decision to declare war? It just deepened the notion that Americas’s government was sketchy and molded my negative opinion of it little more.
By that time I had already lost faith in our government and events that have taken place since then have made my outlook even worse. I wish America’s democracy was not broken and I look for instances of goodness to change my opinion back to what it was when I was younger but they are becoming very few and far in between. Hopefully someday we can fix and trust our government again, I just hope it is not before it is too late.
