Whick to the fifty percent mark are the military the police and the church.  That should tell you what the average mindset is of America in 2005.  I do not find it disturbing becasue all three are easily answered and I do not think it is leading to a police state or Nazi Germany.  What it is, localism.  Many of us have family members who are now fight in some kind of conflict it tends to make the county proud of their own when a conflict, like the one we are in, is in process.  The Police also tends be identifing ones local police force.  I know several policemen, as do many of you and during these uncertain times they are appeciacted.  As for the church, the same thing I think people are giving credit to their local church and minister whom they know personally.  

Politically speaking I hope the Democrats take note of this and sincerely give a message that has these values.

that is just a little bit more boring,
a little bit less activist, and more
down to earth. The military isn't doing
anything for us right now. BRAC is running
around closing bases, fine. Thats just
a negative impact on the economy.

I think part of the metric accounts for
our love of our forces overseas, we're proud
of those boys fighting 'black hawk down' over
there.

But the rest of it, isn't just us 'keeping
safe from terrorists'.. its a country
with a hollywood mentality looking at
our country as if its fort apache the bronx.

Generally, you don't trust the people that
sell you out. I would really like
to see where media entertainment companies
rank in this chart..

Should tell you something. Chris, you're a catholic.
Would you have tried to get the catholic
church to condemn the holocaust?

If you were alive then - which institution would
hold the greatest promise for social change.
The church halted operation 'gentle death'.

What about now. Do you think the church can
play any role at all keeping us from
becoming a police state?

The military and the police are seen as largely apolitical.

Outside of the McJesus Zombies, Inc churches, so too are most churches.

Congress is old hat.  Everyone thinks Congress sucks, but everyone likes their Congressman.  So . . .

Given the re-elect percentage in Congress, apparently trust doesn't equate to electability.

Duh, no wonder the Bushies need a military side show to disguise their giveaways to the corporate types.

People have more confidence (barely) in Labor Unions than Big Business.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Congress and Big Business both pull in at 22% confidence.

At least Congress has a marketing op:

"Your Congress--Better than an HMO!"

[/satire]

First, people express confidence or lack their of for general institutions they have little knowledge of. Do I have confidence in the Police force? I don't know. Other than a speeding ticket two years ago I have little experience with them. The military? How do you rate how effective the Presidency is when I'd bet the majority of people surveyed couldn't tell you the responsibilities of the position, or the last six presidents.

The second issue that bothers me is the lack of confidence in public education. I don't understand why everyone thinks their school and their kid is above average, but they think public schools are failing. What I see from inside the classroom is a change not in my school as an institution, but in my students. They don't want to think. They want to be told what to do. Exactly. Then they want to get an "A" for doing a half ass first attempt at it. Then their parents want to complain that little Johnny didn't get the "A" because (fill in the blank). There is little work ethic anymore, or a desire to learn. This has increased noticeably in just the 10 years I've been teaching.

What is scary to me is how both these points tie into Bower's point about people being more comfortable with a totalitarian state. My students don't question. My students don't think for themselves. They want to be told what to do. And they probably think the Military and the Police are just great.

This is not good for our country.

This is nothing new, folks. People have always romanticized "apolitical", "traditional", authoritarian institutions to some degree or another. Believe it or not, it was worse in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I saw a study, where in 1970 a majority of Americans would have done away with 6 of the 10 first Amendments to the Constitution.

Also, police rates high because crime rates have come down in recent years. With the exception of Rodney King or Amadou Diallo moments, the police generally rate very high.

Look at the Harris Poll and notice the trend line. Belief in the military has plummeted over the last year. As has the White House. This data is not alarming at all.

the folks here are right who are telling us not to worry.

But I have to say, I agree with Chris here. I.e. that we aren't exactly Weimar America and I think people who make those analogies are being hysterical. But at the same time, that people trust those institutions above all others does suggest, at the very least, a conservative, authoritarian bent in the public. Probably this is always the case and that liberals like myself are almost always in the minority, except for short bursts of great optimism and reformist ferment followed by long spells of conservative retrenchment. But nevertheless, I'd rather this wasn't so.

Ben P

Wow! Shades of Godwin's Law

This was presumably a phone survey.

Which are the three entities on that list most likely to be listening in on a phone call?

Homeland security agents, local police, and God.

So there you go.

Adding "while I personally think" before a gratuitous Nazi reference does not prevent an opponent from invoking Godwin's law. See my post here and, especially, follow the link to Orac's discussion of Godwin's law.

I hereby declare, within my rather limited capacity, Godwin's law in effect for this discussion. You lose, Chris.

BTW, as a former member of the US Navy, your interpetation of this is pathetic. Your history is worse. Nazi Germany did not result because the people viewed the military more favorably that they did the Government of Hitler. It resulted more from the opposite. The military leaders who opposed Hitler were cowed by the public adoration of Hitler. Geez, if you want to slam the military, consult a history book first. This is one of the most pathetic attempts to denigrate the military I've seen. Why not just say the public is just to **(^ing ignorant to see the truth?

"If you couple rising confidence in the police and the military with declining confidence in the criminal justice system, elected institutions and the news media, you have the makings of a populace that would be comfortable with a police state."

So we should not have confidence in our military to protect and defend us?  Same with our police?  Could it possibly be that the other institutions are NOT doing the jobs they should?  Your conclusion infers that there is something wrong in having confidence in the military and police, but doesn't suggest that there is anything wrong in the others.

Indeed, taking your statement to a logical alternitive... If we did not have the confidence, we would then have to build up the two institutions until we had confidence.  

It's most interesting that the other indicator over 50% is that of Organized Religion.  Perhaps (and this is conjecture) Americans are turning to it again as a directing force they find lacking in the other instituions.  

In that same vein, the current White House occupant seems to embrace and live by his religion, unlike the previous President who 'posed' at church on Sunday while being fellated on Monday.  

As to the Supreme Court, I'm not at all surprised that it finds itself on the downward slope along with Criminal Justice.  The courts are writing new laws instead of enforcing the existing ones. They use world (judicial) opinion instead of the US Constitution for their decisions.  Which makes me wonder why we aren't charging the families of criminals for their upkeep, and for that matter why they are kept in such sanitary prisons.  Evidently it's not inhumane to do the latter as many other countries charge the families and hold their prisoners in squalor.

Congress has done such a good job of wasting time these days that it's a no brainer that they are below the 25% mark. I'm surprised it's that high.  Perhaps they'd do better by setting an example of co-operation instead of confuscation.

The news media has found itself on the decline for years.  And the responsibility lies within itself for lacking balance and having bias.  Of course no news outlet is bias if it agrees with me, is it?  When Dan Rather runs with an unsubstatiated story, when the Times or Post has to retract a major blunder, when Newsweek's unproved article causes riots, when reporters are fired because of made up stories blah... blah.. blah...

Your conclusion is disingenuous at best.