Are There Any Parallels Within Our Government Today?
The video is titled “Public Trust, Private Interests.” The main theme of the video is the problem of trust within the government, between public officials, and between the government and the public officials. From the video, one fundamental question regards whether any parallels exist within our government today as regards to trust issues that have been discussed in the video albeit hypothetically. Trust is an important attribute for any government. However, the United States has historically found itself in a peculiar position where top government officials are accused of engaging in unethical practices that causes the public to lose faith and trust in them. A good example is the Watergate scandal that involved President Nixon who was involved in stealing materials belonging to a rival presidential candidate (Cohen et al., 2019). He was forced to resign and relinquish his position to the vice president. Similar issues have also been witnessed today with the contemporary administration.
Today, many people are comparing Nixon's tribulations to what is going on at the White House. During the 2016 presidential elections, Russia and Donald Trump were accused of hacking the Democratic National Committee's website with the aim of tilting the presidency towards Trump. As the investigation continues into the matter, Trump has been accused of using tactics that seek to intimidate the investigators and the press in general. In both Nixon's and Trump's case, the President and his entire White House have had to deal with the investigations from the Justice Department. In both instances, senior government officials affiliated with the president were left with no option but to vacate office (Cohen et al., 2019). However, in the case of Trump, he has not vacated office because he has the backing of the Republican lawmakers. From these two instances, it shows that trust issues among government officials and between government and the public continue to be a challenge in the US.
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Addressing the Issues Identified
The first issue identified is trust within the government. Government officials must be in a position where they trust one another. Failure to trust each other could potentially create loopholes for unethical and criminal happenings including terrorism. As a leader, I would order each member of the government to take a special oath of office that overemphasis his commitment to trust as he occupies the government office. Here, they will need to swear that no matter the personal differences they have with each other, they will show commitment towards serving a common government cause (Kim & Lee, 2012). Secondly, any public officer found in a scandal that questions their trust levels will be charged to have lied under oath. I will also liaise with the Congress to ensure that they develop strong measures against any public official indicted on issues that question their loyalty and commitment to government agenda.
The second issue addressed deals with the trust between the government and the public. The public should always be in a position to trust the government of the day. In doing so, I would take several measures aimed at improving transparency. I will advocate for a public portal where the citizens can track all the government projects including the resources used to ensure that they can account for the money they have paid the government through taxes. As a leader, it is important to ensure that the public and the government can find ways of interacting and exchanging on matters relating to governance. It is in this regard that I will advocate for a system where each State Department secures a week on a quarterly basis where they can meet the public and update them on the ongoing projects.
References
Cohen, M. et al. (2019). In their own words: Nixon on Watergate, Trump on the Russia investigation. CNN https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/politics/trump-nixon-comparison/index.html
Kim, S., & Lee, J. (2012). E‐participation, transparency, and trust in local government. Public Administration Review, 72(6), 819-828.
