In summary...

                This research project, for me at least, is not coming to an end. Though this will be my final post on this blog, I will continue to research and learn why many people have little or no faith in the people who govern us, and the effects that this distrust has on the people of a nation and the world as a whole. I’ve decided to use my last post to give a general summary of the things I’ve learned as well as an analysis of the things I thought might be true but wanted more factual evidence than I had in the beginning to base my theory off of. I will also include a conclusion of my thoughts on the subject at the end of the post and how my final analysis relates to our modern world.

                I learned several specific factors to distrust in government as I was reading documentation of historical rebellions and revolutions, many of which fall into a small group of categories that I will describe in the paragraph below. It was interesting to read the similarities and the subtle differences in revolutions that have come and gone, suggesting that since the beginning of recorded human history there have been people who have believed in humanity’s rights as a whole. I can say that for the most part, the rights of all people is the main reason that there have been revolutions in our past and will continue to be revolutions until the end of days. There have been many contributing aspects in each specific situation for why people would need to fight for these rights in different times in history, though the goal has generally always been to improve the lives of the citizens of a country and citizens of the world. In the interest of avoiding redundancy and staying on topic, if you’d like to read more about these specific similarities and differences, read some of my other posts or, better yet, do a little research of your own.

                I wouldn’t say I learned all that much in regards to how distrust in public officials comes to be. For the most part, my research supported my initial hypotheses; that people distrust their government based on the conquering of native lands by unwanted invaders, in the case of the native people not having faith in their conquerors; the deprivation of basic human rights, including but not limited to freedom of religion, implementing exclusive restrictions on minority groups instead of a society as a whole, freedom of speech and self-expression, equal opportunity for all citizens to improve their lives through hard work, and protection of these rights and others by their government; and an oppressive economic disparity between the citizens of a country and those who control the politics in that country. I think people like to believe that many of these issues are confined to our past and are no longer relevant in our modern, progressive world. I would argue that these factors are widely prevalent in modern society and that there are several political revolutions in progress based on these factors even as I type this post.

                The final piece of my research that I’d like to point out is the effects that people’s distrust in government has on the people of a nation. As you can probably tell from my words above, you can probably tell that one of the most discernible effects is political revolution, in which a myriad of human lives have been lost. There is also an aftermath to any revolution, in which a nation may be surrounded in political discourse for an indeterminate period of time after the mutinied leaders are out of power. The alternative to revolution, peaceful or otherwise, is the perennial suffering that those without power must endure if they choose not to act against their oppressors. In either case, anguish is apparent and seemingly inescapable.

                In my safe little corner of the world, in which I have a job, a car that I pay for, a roof over my head that I pay for, and an education that I will be paying for in my coming years, I really don’t have much to complain about as far as my personal economic and political situation goes, and I am truly thankful for the opportunities that have been provided for me, and those that I earned through hard work and dedication. This doesn’t negate the fact that since I can remember I have seen unspeakable tragedies passed off as “just the way it is”, and have only become increasingly disgusted with the “way it is” as I’ve grown older and learned more about our world. People are dying from hunger, untreated disease, weather conditions that can’t be avoided without shelter, and unjust wars, every second of every day. If you think this problem only exists in third world countries, go to downtown Portland and tell me the detriments of “greed is good” aren’t alive and well. People do a lot to help each other with no inhibitions regarding borders or nationality, and this is true throughout humanity; however the fact that people are dying from the lack of fundamental human needs while 46% of the world’s wealth is being controlled by 1% of the population, while an inconceivable amount of said wealth supports politicians, suggests that there is something incontrovertibly corrupt at play in our world today.