Hillary Clinton and the Question of Trust

So it actually takes quite a lot of dishonesty and double dealing to rock the confidence of an electorate who are convinced they want a particular leader.

Many suppose that Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, may just be the final straw in whatever trust the public might once have had in her leadership.

I’m not so sure.

Those who have distrusted her and her slippery husband from the beginning are not surprised to find her serpentine manner being exhibited in this latest exposure of her dishonesty, but much of the American public have clearly given her the benefit of the doubt and want to believe she’s still “the one”.

Many support her simply because she is a woman, and others because they back her political ideology.

However, this entire email episode reveals more than the dishonesty of Hillary Clinton.

It reveals the state of our national values.

Clinton’s shifty selfishness reveals what is lacking in so much of American life: personal virtue. Too often we have chosen an ideology as the solution for our problems rather than personal virtue. We have imagined that big government must solve the problems rather than individuals and local groups led by virtuous individuals. We want to live our own selfish and immature lives expecting someone else to clean things up.

When we make these choices, avoiding the arduous path of personal virtue, why are we surprised to find ourselves governed by mendacious politicians who also have no idea of the need for personal virtue? Why do we imagine that we can cheat, lie, feather our nests at the expense of others, scheme to get ahead and grab as much as we can and that we would miraculously have leaders who are better than ourselves?

Why do we expect to have honest, noble and trustworthy leaders when we are ignoble, dishonest and untrustworthy?

This is why the lack of trust many have in Hillary Clinton may not actually affect her chances negatively.

Many Americans may continue to support her because they simply don’t give two hoots whether she is honest or not.

They don’t care if she is honest because they don’t think honesty matters.

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