The only sensible way to restore trust in government is by making it more trustworthy. And a trustworthy government is more likely to be undermined by too much trust than by too little. Indeed, a major reason government performs so poorly is that persistent political influences encourage citizens to put far too much trust in it. The Arithmetic of Voting Public trust is easily transformed into political power that will be used to promote private advantage at public expense. The reason is rooted in the simple arithmetic of voting.
Voting is an important civic responsibility, and nothing here is meant to suggest otherwise.
But in state and national elections, the probability of your vote deciding the outcome is far less than that of being injured driving to the polls. This means that favoring one candidate or proposal costs you almost nothing in terms of sacrificing the alternative. This arithmetic is important because it explains why charisma and emotion can trump substance in politics. Registering support at the polls for a superficially attractive candidate or a superficially compassionate proposal allows a voter to identify with the glamorous or feel virtuous with little concern about cost or effectiveness. The more people trust government, the more virtuous they feel when voting for a wide range of government initiatives that end up costing far more and delivering far less than promised.