By Ashlee BanksSpecial to the AFRO
The New York Times (NYT) and Siena College released a poll that shows most Americans distrust the government and are skeptical that the government is working for the American people.
Poll results show that 62 percent of surveyed participants believe government officials are only looking out for themselves and the elites.
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas-30) told the AFRO, the first step is to “get rid of all of MAGA.”
“MAGA shows so much distrust, as we’ve seen people in their most vulnerable situations during the most recent hurricanes that have hit and devastated their areas, whether it was Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina or Florida, there’s nothing but lies that they’ve put out there,” said Crockett.
The Democratic lawmaker also blamed the media for creating an atmosphere that has caused Americans to distrust politicians.
“You know the fact that there were ever any agreements that anyone from the Trump team could appear in any way for the purpose of providing information, but the only caveat was that they not be fact-checked,” said Crockett. “We can’t live in a society where our leadership is allowed to just go out and lie. That is where the mistrust comes from.
“Journalism has always been about being this neutral, factual space, yet that has not been met,” she added. “People don’t even know which news sources to trust at this point.”
Crockett told the AFRO that Americans need to use their voices and vote for credible politicians during the election if they want to regain trust in the government.
“We have to elect leaders that are okay with being fact-checked, like leaders that are held accountable to being honest and truthful,” she said. “As well as making sure that media outlets are clarifying or not amplifying lies that are being spewed by Donald Trump and his allies.”
The NYT and Siena College poll also found that three-quarters of the surveyed participants believe that democracy is under threat, however, they do not know who to blame.
Syvante Myrick, president of People for the American Way, told the AFRO that given the current political climate, he “understands” their perspective and why some voters “want to blame both political parties equally.”
“If you are not paying close attention, if you don’t watch C-SPAN every day, much less MSNBC or CNN, the current political situation seems like a dumpster fire, and when you arrive at a dumpster fire, you see a whole cloud around and it’s hard in the first few moments to figure out in that cloud who set the fire and who’s trying to put it out,” said the former mayor of Ithaca, New York.
Myrick added, “Conservatives have worked to undermine the functioning of government for 60 years now…whenever they have power inside government, they set about proving that it can’t work by sabotaging it.”
On the contrary, Myrick agrees with the surveyed participants and believes local governments are more valued in American society than the federal government because of the way in which local politicians are elected to office.
“The government which governs best is that which is closest to home. The closer you are to your constituents, the more you understand them,” he said.
“There’s no city in America with an electoral college. There’s no county in America with an electoral college. There’s no state in America with an electoral college. The governor that wins the most votes is elected governor. The mayor that wins the most votes as elected mayor,” said Myrick. “Only in the federal government do we have the strange Electoral College system. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t make any sense. It warps the priorities of the entire federal government in a way that’s not useful.”