And the way to bring them back together is precisely to make the centre hold. That involves meeting three challenges which, I believe, are urgent for all of us. First, we must rebuild the sense that there is a public interest which we all share. Second, we must develop a trusted and transparent process by which that public interest is defined. The issue is how we rebuild a sense of trust strong enough to help a diverse community respond together to a changing world.
Public attitudes move in cycles.
We are nearing the end of a cycle of suspicion of public institutions, when the emphasis was on ending programs, cutting spending, shrinking the public sector.