Listening to peepers and wood frogs

Trust in the dependability of government is falling, but there are steps we can take

If only we had as much confidence in our government as we do in the return of our little friends in spring. (Photo by Omar Mena for Unsplash)

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There comes an evening about this time every year when my wife summons our pup Roscoe and me to join her in a walk through the dark to a bog that’s a couple hundred yards up the road. As we get near, there’s a rising sound of buzzing and chirping that’s by now familiar: It’s the season premiere of the peeper and wood frog chorus, presented by choraliers just awakened from their winter torpor to sing us into springtime. Their performance is as regular as the moonrise.

This year the cacophony was especially welcome, maybe because it reassured us that some things remain steady and predictable. Buds are appearing on some branches, too, and on the ground there are blossoms of tiny snowdrops, the hardy early risers of the amaryllis family.

We’re grateful. The season’s change seems to be something we need just now, when so much is no longer so dependable.

It’s impossible to predict which part of the immense damage that Donald Trump is bringing to America and the world will be most lasting. But we will no doubt long regret the loss of our nation’s reputation for reliability and stability, which will unquestionably outlast the 47^th presidency.

Consider the abandonment of Ukraine and the accompanying overt hostility to NATO, the foolhardy trade war that will upend the economies of our neighbors, Canada and Mexico, and the abrupt dismantling of aid programs that have kept millions of people alive in impoverished nations. It’s hard to imagine how any country will ever again consider America to be a dependable ally. If, somehow, Trump is followed by, say, a decade of sturdy leadership, will the mistrust and hostility that now greets us abroad even then be abated?

It's not just the view of the United States from outside that has changed. How might we Americans ever assume that our government’s institutions and policies might outlast a single executive? After all, if a bill passed by Congress and signed into law by a president can be disregarded by the next president with barely a whimper from Congress, as we’re seeing just now, there’s no reason to imagine that respect for the continuity of law will magically return when Trump blessedly leaves the scene.

Thus the whole process of governing is fast becoming dispensable. What goes on in the Capitol increasingly seems farcical, anyway, since many members of the legislative branch seem to be engaged in a performative imitation of lawmaking — as though their main job is to show up in the media as either a claque or a critic of the man in the White House, effectively auditioning for a chance to host a podcast or a cable TV show themselves after their days in elective office have run out.

Does this sound cynical? I hate feeling cynical about my government. I’ve been a proud patriot since I was a little boy growing up in the shadow of Mount Rushmore. As a young man, I worked in government for four years, never losing the stirring in my heart as I climbed the steps to a side entrance of the Capitol. A visit at sunrise to the Lincoln Memorial still leaves me misty-eyed, and I’ve been known to quote without provocation the words that encircle the frieze under the dome of that other great Washington cathedral to democracy, the Jefferson Memorial: “I have sworn upon the alter of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

Now we are led by an ignoble and unstable president who is eager to exert tyrannical control over our minds and personal behavior. He wants us to accept that some Americans because of their gender incongruence must be barred from the full privileges of citizenship, despite laws protecting their civil rights. He demands that universities block students from hearing views that diverge from what he considers appropriate, notwithstanding First Amendment protection of free speech. He says that judges who rule against him should be thrown off the bench, and that lawyers who fairly represent those who disagree with him should be jailed, the independence of the judiciary and the right to counsel be damned. He has called for the execution for treason of military leaders who affirmed allegiance to their constitutional oath over their loyalty to him.

In all this, Trump is upending what we have long assumed to be the bedrock values of American government. He is a dangerous, unsteady man, and while his career both in business and in politics foreshadowed this untrustworthiness, the peril he now presents is in his reshaping of America in his own image — to be a nation just as erratic and capricious as he is. How can America ever be steadied, then, and its course returned to something even vaguely trustworthy?

Trust in all major institutions has been declining worldwide for years. Edelman, the global public affairs firm, has for a quarter-century issued an annual Edelman Trust Barometer report, and the 2025 version, with data from an online survey of 33,000 people, is especially troubling: More than 6 in 10, it found, hold a sense of grievance — a belief that government and business serve narrow interests and thus make the lives of ordinary citizens harder. Grievance of that sort is eroding trust in all institutions, Edelman concluded, leading 4 in 10 to say that they approve of hostile activism: violence or property damage, spreading disinformation or attacking people online.

The loss of trust involves not only government, but also business, the church, media, non-government organizations and academia. But there’s a particular responsibility for government in this, because it alone has the breadth to reach people on a national scale and the credibility that attaches to being a creation of the people it governs. Significantly, Edelman reported that the trust index in the United States was fifth from the bottom among the 28 nations it surveyed.¹

Here's one reason why this matters so much: Only if a government is trustworthy will citizens willingly comply with its policies and practices. Unless we trust that our fellow citizens will join us in accepting the limits imposed for the benefit of all, why would we?

That is, there won’t ever be enough IRS agents to police tax law compliance; the nation’s revenue stream depends upon citizens voluntarily paying what’s rightfully owed. You can carry that thought through to even such mundane matters as traffic enforcement: We stop at a red light not only because we worry that police might be watching, but also because we trust that government has rightly decided that controlling intersections keeps us safer. That’s why we don’t need a cop on every corner.

Of course, even the most effective and fair governments led by well-intentioned public servants deserve skepticism. That’s healthy and necessary: Scrutiny and questioning of government are the anchors of good journalism and the fuel of political campaigns. Acting upon that sort of healthy dubiousness is how citizens make sure their government meets their needs.

Without valid data, though — that is, without knowing what’s really happening — citizens can’t make good judgments about whether government is meeting their needs and hopes. As Stanford University political scientist Margaret Levi has observed, “When citizens perceive government as serving their interests, they consider government trustworthy.” Inept government thus breeds distrust.²

That’s why we are so hurt not only by Trump’s destruction of government, which is rightly distressing well-informed citizens, but also by the fallacious attack on our government’s capacity that preceded it. For the latter, you can thank the rise of trashy journalism — yes, I’m talking about Fox News and its imitators here — and by the refusal of social media platforms to effectively police misinformation. Too many Americans are losing access to the information that might convince them that Trump’s careless tyranny demands resistance; too many are likewise swayed by attention-craving entertainers who pervert reality in pursuit of a profit-generating audience.

In fact, the distortion of truth by major information platforms is key to Trump’s trampling of America’s traditional dependability. It’s well-informed citizens who are most likely to be horrified by what’s going on in Washington, and those who pay less attention to the news who are most supportive of Trump. Reuters/Ipsos polling just before last year’s election revealed that by wide margins, Trump supporters misunderstood key facts about crime, the economy and the border. Trump is in the White House today because of his firm grasp on the affection of so-called “low-information voters,” and most of them remain his fierce advocates.

So as University at Berkeley economic professor J. Bradford DeLong put it just after the voting, “we need to figure out what to do about an information ecosystem that hoodwinked millions of people and turned our politics into a clown show.”³ DeLong probably regrets that wording just now; if it seemed vaguely funny in late fall, the reality of Trump’s second term can only be viewed as tragic here in the spring.

The nostalgia of an aging journalist isn’t what you’re reading here — though I do, of course, hope for a time when honest reporting might again reach all corners of the American electorate. But nobody should be wishing for paperboys on bikes to toss yesterday’s news onto our neighbors’ doorsteps, nor for an avuncular newscaster to summarize “the way it is” for most of us each evening.

What we do need, though, is an urgent effort to create a better-informed electorate in the digital age. Here’s what we need: First, a fight against disinformation; second, a resurgence of support for good journalism, and third, effective advocacy by citizen groups. Together, those steps can begin to restore a dependable government to a deserving nation.

Digital disinformation — spread by enemy nations, bots and individuals — is rampant, well-documented most notably by an Aspen Institute blue-ribbon panel report four years ago. The Biden administration quickly bungled efforts to attack the problem, in part because, ironically enough, it was met with a disinformation campaign claiming it was really an effort to stifle conservative thought.⁴ Since then, social media platforms have kowtowed to Trump and abandoned efforts to moderate content; presidential pal Elon Musk is himself, of course, the major source of disinformation on X. The plentiful and damaging lies that overrun the digital world will diminish, then, only if digital consumers apply market pressure. The Silicon Valley bosses who are more eager to coddle Trump than please customers present us a golden opportunity: We need to remind them of the power of an energized marketplace. We await only an organized effort to enlighten them.

The opportunity in journalism is likewise poised for progress. Great reporting is alive and well in America, but it needs to reach more households. A growing ecosystem of nonprofit journalism is now at work in all 50 states, filling in the gaps left by the economic ruin that the digital revolution has brought to most advertiser-supported newspapers. The new newsrooms are publishing strong journalism that holds the powerful to account at all levels of government, and they’re gaining skills in reaching audiences. But they need philanthropic and community support if they are to counter the hate-mongers and prevaricators of the digital and broadcast right. (Disclosure: I’m a board member of two fine nonprofit and nonpartisan news organizations, New York Focus and Adirondack Explorer.)

Most importantly, citizens of good will need to step up to support community organizations that are taking on the task of doing good in a society where government is in retreat. We are only beginning to see the negative effects of the Trump destruction of the public sector — including the faltering of medical and mental health care for veterans, the attack on higher education and the withdrawal of funding for social services, healthcare and arts and humanities programs. There are worthy groups around the country still fighting for those who need the help that our right-wing government won’t give them. So pick your passion and do something: Fill in your energy where government’s failure is leaving gaps.

And, of course, there’s this: Get involved in your local political races. We must rebuild our increasingly disabled government from the ground up.

We know that this is the start of a long haul, here at the beginning of this benighted presidency. It’s like what those of us who live in northern zones feel as winter begins, knowing that we’ll face some tough days before spring returns. Of course, those of us who love seasonal change are already recalling winter’s beauty with a bit of longing at this time of the year. Likewise, the effort to counter the worst effects of Trumpism, which seems an uphill climb just now, can yield some rewarding days in the months and years ahead — and, in the end, some real satisfaction as our work gives way to a more dependable and trustworthy government.

Really, it’s our only option now, don’t you think? We’ve endured harsh winters, most of us, and we can do this, too. Spring always returns, and with it the joy of hearing the peepers and frogs. Listen, and keep hope alive.

1. https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2025-01/2025%20Edelman%20Trust%20Barometer_U.S.%20Report.pdf

2. https://www.amacad.org/publication/daedalus/trustworthy-government-obligations-government-responsibilities-governed

3. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/2024-election-surveys-show-trump-voters-misinformed-on-major-issues-by-j-bradford-delong-2024-11

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinformation_Governance_Board

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

WHAT’S YOUR VIEW?

This essay argues that Donald Trump’s administration is destroying confidence in America’s dependability, and that we therefore must combat misinformation, engage with good journalism and support community groups that are picking up the failing tasks of government. Do you agree? How should we respond to today’s challenges?

(Note: Substack accepts comments only from paid subscribers on The Upstate American site.)

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ENDNOTE

THANK YOU for reading The Upstate American, and for joining us in the conversation about our common ground, this great country. As we together navigate these challenging times, I hope you’ll join us again next week — or send me a message with ideas you’d like to see us address.

-Rex

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