Remember that there are supposed to be terrorists everywhere, just waiting to attack.....something. Yet in the 11 years since the 9/11 attacks, not one credible terrorist plot has been thwarted.

Meanwhile, every American has been inconvenienced by "Homeland Security" to a much greater extent than any terrorists could ever accomplish.

If indeed there is a "War On Terror", the terrorists won a long time ago. And they didn't have to lift a finger.

As for trusting the government, Never, NADA, Nope. I know, I used to work for them in the United States Navy and saw plenty of stuff to keep me wondering why our taxes are so high. I think with the militarization of the country's police forces that any domestic terrorism will be dealt with Fast and Furious. Which brings up the point of our ATF and DEA and whatever other government agency causing more danger to US citizens by providing guns and ammo to drug cartels, as if they were dangerous enough before. Drugs and food safety, not when your FDA is in the pocket of all the big money lobbyists. The only thing I trust the government to do is to screw up a wet dream. They add regulation on top of regulation to impede business when all we really need is for the government to get out of the way and let the economy recover from the government induced financial meltdown that caused the recession or depression or whatever you want to call it. In other words, I am in favor of trimming the size of government and voting out everybody that is in office right now and starting over with citizen legislators. One term and done, Senators back to being nominated by the state legislatures and in danger of being recalled if they screw up. Get rid of K street and all the lobbyists. Root out a lot, if not all of the corruption of government. Better yet, neutron bomb inside the beltway, save the buildings but eliminate the people that are the problem.

Not.at.all.

regrettably I must say as a small city official that even the "little jobs" are being pushed out. The state is pushing for operators that are button pushers not people who can use their mind. The people that can use their mind are being increasingly frustrated and forced into retirement or other professions. The past generation saw many people who did their work with pride regrettably that is deteriorating quickly.

Being able to call another country "home" has some benefits, even IF it's for comic relief...

It's funny - I didn't know until a couple years ago (and this after driving various of the Autostrade for a few months out of each year) that they were privately owned by the Benetton family. While they're not the cheapest of toll roads, you *do* get your lire, er, euros worth...

Indeed. +1

I quite seriously don't trust anybody or institution to do anything in my stead or for me. I believe trust, like respect must be earned and that authority must be granted, not assumed or asserted.
Our largest failing as a nation was in not taking to heart and using the advice of Jefferson, Madison, and Washington as it relates to the rights of the citizenry to stop and change our government anytime it got out of hand.
Government at it's base is composed of individuals that like government, and they want control of things we wouldn't trust friends or even family to be in charge of on an individual level.

LOL...You had me saying "WTH?"....

I trust them to take care of my healthcare needs, to provide a Carabinieri to assist us and protect us from foreign invaders and domestic terrorists, to work with fine companies like Benetton to provide us with an Autostrade system with which we can go from one end of the country to another...

Oh wait a minute, you weren't talking about the Italian government, were you?... Let me rephrase that...

I trust them to make it damn near impossible to operate my business, to defend myself, or to actually earn an honest profit, without trying to figure out a way to steal it from me and give it to some freeloader who drives their leased Jaguar to the food bank for their "entitlement" after they've spent their EBT on booze and flash cash at the corner store.

I trust them to make sufficient laws, not by legal means, but by fiat and declaration, that they can, at a time of their choosing, declare that we have fractured some obscure law and have us incarcerated indefinitely when we have been a sufficient thorn in their side by practicing our rights.

I trust them to corrupt our children from fine, upstanding future Americans to worthless moocher socialists through their interference, mandates, and falsifications forced upon them (by threat of coercion and condemnation) through our teachers and our schools...

I trust them to open the gates to those who never earned the right to be here as did OUR forefathers, to those who have no business being here but to prop up their mechanizations and misdeeds, to those who have evil intent upon our citizens, our businesses, our once great nation, and worse, the truth...

If you can read this, you obviously don't have enough tears of sadness, anguish, and shame in your eyes... so read it again.

I trust the American military to react strongly against a direct attack on American soil. I think that they will find a way of doing this no matter who is in office. (No, I do not count the illegal immigrants in this category. By 'direct attack' I mean something like N Korea shooting a missile into LA.) I trust the 'little jobs' to keep getting done: streets repaired, sewage treatment plants functional. I trust that there are enough individuals in the government who are on some level aware of liberty that the people who want to erode it have to work behind the scenes.

I trust the gestalt of the American people to be a huge, blind, fumbling, child...until the shit hits the fan and we turn into this awesome tiger-man destroyer hero. It is kinda like having a secret identity, only in this case even WE have forgotten that we have secretsuperpowers.

I have hope.

Jan

I trust them to take more of my money this year than last. It's the only thing they consistently seem to be effective at.