The US government is made up of citizens just like you and me. I trust it no more, but also no less, than my fellow citizens. What's more, the US government is divided into many factions and divisions justs as are we citizens. Some factions are more trustworthy than others, and like religious groups and rotary clubs and business associations in the civilian world, the integrity of each division and department changes over time depending on how responsibly they are managed. Thus, the FBI can be corrupt if led by corrupt people or if those who lead it do not have the power to fire those under them for mismanagement or fraud. Much of the corruption seen in government is because the federal union protects corrupt employees from being dismissed. Instead, it is easier to get rid of them by promoting or transferring them into someone elses' office.
It is wrong to think of 'the government' as being uniformly corrupt and it is wrong to think of it as being consistently corrupt. The odds that everyone in government is corrupt is about the same as the odds that everyone in your neighborhood or at your work is corrupt.
The reason 'the government' seems so corrupt is because you never see the good and honorable peope in it, nor the things they do, making the news. When some guy in the Army cuts the budget on a program because he does an end-run around the designers of a product and fixes a problem without them, he gets a bit of paper on his desk commending him for saving a few million dollars, but it doesn't make the news because it's his job. When some Naval officer refuses to be pressured into certifying untrained or poorly trained crewmen because in his view, they aren't able to do the job, it doesn't make the news that instead those crewmen ended up getting proper training because of his obstinance- it's his job. When some FBI agent cracks a routine case or refuses to be bribed it doesn't make the news because this is their everyday job. When some patent examiner gives some application pointers to an inventor that helps him in his legal standing when he goes to market his product, it doesn't make the news. It isn't news when things go right... it's only news when things go wrong.
Look at your fellow workers and if you see them stealing from your employer, then you can expect about the same level of corruption from government, too. And if you say nothing when you see it happen, you can expect a government employee to do the same thing. If you see people at your work doing an honorable job or going beyond the expectations of their employer, then you can expect the same level of integrity in government too. And if you do your best work for your employer, or if you yourself are a good manager and employer, you can expect a government worker like yourself, or a government manager or public official, will do the same outstanding work, too. No more and no less.
Look at your fellow workers and if you see them stealing from your employer, then you can expect about the same level of corruption from government, too.Your comments are interesting and logical, but, as a heroine of mine would say..."check your premises".
The difference between "your fellow workers" and those in government is that government has a monopoloy on the legal use of force.
That changes everyhting.
Yeah yeah, I am aware that the govt is made up of everyday citizens. I am also aware that the U.S. govt or should I say
its representatives often lie. For their own angle or whatever they lie. The Creep that led the F.B.I. allowed the release to China our nuclear secrets. The F.B.I. failed to reign in the obvious corruption within the clintoon regeim. The F.B.I. has covered up so very many illegalities including giving Hitlery thousands of dossiers about everyone that may someday become a challenger.
The shooting down of the Jet in N.Y. is nothing but a coverup. Who are you going to believe your own lying eyes or the F.B.I? How many witnesses came forward to tell of seeing a missile? How many folks saw McVeigh with arabic looking people in the days and months before the Murrah bombing. What? It didn't fit the scenario the feds had made up?
Oh yeah and what about the F.B.I. allowing the frame up of a guy for murder even though they knew the guy didn't do it. To protect their plant they leave a guy in jail for years?
What about the lies and no subsequent punishment by the murderers at Ruby Ridge and Waco?
If a govt. official says it is a clear sunny day I say check it out for yourself because it very likely is a lie if stated by a govt. type.
The guy Halstrom stated once early in the investigation of the airline bombing that if the truth came out it would blow the hell out of the govt. story.
I can go on and on about this govt. It is not the govt of the United States I love it is the people of the United States and the country itself I love. And dont give me this crap about the govt being the people.
For instance I went to a local airport and took a friend for a ride in a small plane. Before the ride we walked around the airport for about 2 hours and asked 11 individuals who were working on their planes what they thought aobut the F.A.A.? Responses ranged from incompetant boobs to outright criminal. OF the 11 I asked the question all 11 had nothing but bad to say about the gestappo or F.A.A.