The steady decline of confidence in institutions that began with Watergate and Vietnam is due to real failures of the elite leadership class. These failures undermined confidence not just in capacity to do good but in capability to represent interests. The list is familiar to you by now: Impeachment. 9/11. Iraq. Katrina. Congressional corruption. Financial meltdown. Failed stimulus. Obamacare. Stagnant wages. Diminished hopes. The party establishment was looking out for the interests of people other than those they were elected to serve. They were responding to the donor class and to the party leadership.
http://thefederalist.com/2016/06/22/the-persistence-of-washington-delusion/
