Who Do You Trust?

Maybe our system of government isn’t so bad after all.

It was such a bombshell, even politicians couldn’t collect themselves sufficiently to gloat about it: a trust survey by Victoria University of Wellington’s school of government this week disclosed a significant improvement in people’s trust of government. Were it not from this reputable academic institution, via experienced pollster Colmar Brunton, this might have been dismissed as fake news at its most brazen. Not trusting politicians is, to most New Zealanders, as vital a precautionary duty as brushing one’s teeth and remembering Mother’s Day.

The key distinction, however, was that it’s small-g government at issue here. It is the general institution or system that has grown in esteem since the last survey in 2016, not the individual blaggards who inhabit it. Politicians are still extremely poorly trusted, though even they had a solid improvement in this survey.

It’s a maddening distinction, though. As a nation with a small population, we have a remarkably idiosyncratic style of governance. Individuals, especially particularly forceful politicians, tend to have more influence here than institutions or even parties.

Maybe two years watching Britain’s Brexit self-torture marathon and the bombastic Canute-ism of Donald Trump has persuaded New Zealanders that our small-g and maybe even big-G governments aren’t so bad after all.