Peggy Noonan, a former Reagan speechwriter is a regular staple on the Sunday Morning "News" Talk Shows. When it comes to explaining why America has become so dysfunctional she is rarely cited as a reason. No, there are far more extreme pundits out there spewing venom to their cadres of acolytes. Twas ever thus. A person with a predisposition to believe the most outlandish claims of the radio talk show bubble is basically a lost cause. They will generally remain impervious to facts and are therefore not susceptible to argumentation based upon facts.
This brings us back to Ms Noonan. Soft spoken and careful, she presents the most reasonable face to those people in the middle who are susceptible to argument. Those are the people for whom ideology is secondary to simple facts. Peggy plays to that audience. Indeed she lives to play the mother; reasonable, responsible, down to earth, patriotic. Yet her motherly charms are the craft of a master thespian. Behind her smile and flowery rhetoric, she is every bit the political operator and in fact one of the slickest and smarmiest of them all.
Watch Meet the Press or This Week in Washington. Barely a week goes by where Ms. Noonan does not sigh to the camera and say "Americans just don't trust their Government". Her intonation is one of seemingly sad regret at our malaise. "Nobody trusts Congress." she writes. "We all know this. Approval of Congress is at
13% in the polls. Part of this is the general decline in respect that
Americans feel for their institutions." The general decline in respect. What an innocuous way of describing it, as if it moved of its own accord. What she fails to mention is that she has had a non-trivial role in the development and nurturing of that mistrust from the very beginning of her career in politics.
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" Ronald Reagan said that many years ago. To him it was the joke that summed up his disdain for the very function of Government. Funny isn't it? As the person literally tasked with putting words in his mouth Peggy Noonan used her talents to prop up and expand this viewpoint. She put a kindly face and noble words in the service of nihilism and distrust. She is worse than the fire-breathers to her right because she appears to be what she is not. In short, she does not let you know her real agenda.
If we are to believe Reagan, and by extension his speechwriter, we should distrust our Government. Those are the words of her mentor. When in her career did Peggy Noonan switch from advocating distrust to sighing on television about the lack of trust? Its hard to know. What we do know is this. When New Orleans was inundated by Katrina, the poor folk of the area were certainly sorry that the Federal Government was not there to help. When Sandy made landfall, the residents of New Jersey and New York, were sure glad that FEMA was there to help...indeed they wished for more help. And as Boston was ripped by bombs, they were certainly glad that there was an FBI that helped nab the terrorists within a week of their heinous act.
Our Government represents ourselves. It is a reflection of our society. When we mistrust it it is a sign of a deep sickness within ourselves...a failure of self confidence. Peggy Noonan, who beat the drums of mistrust for many years would have us believe that our loss of belief in our institutions is entirely external to the political process. It is not.
