Sorry for getting off track here...
At this point in time, I trust very few politicians. I firmly believe that public education, the msm, and social networking plays a huge role in this.
Before the WWW, we had to get our news from reading papers that actually did some research, and a handful of tv stations. Back in the day, folks mostly did some research for their own benefit. It actually took some effort, and we were better off for it.
Todays 'smart phone' is more powerful than the computers that put us on the moon. The advent of the WWW has made it far to easy for folks to just believe what they read/see. Few bother to actively explore any other side of an argument. 'If my friend posted it on face book, it must be true because he/she is my friend'. If the topic is posted long enough, it becomes gospel.
What our nation is experiencing today would never have crossed our minds 50 years ago. We had 30+ kids on a classroom and there was no free lunch program. You brought yer lunch or paid for it (no discounts for whatever reason). We had a rifle club at school that met every Friday at the metal shop classroom. I could ride my bike down main street with my .22 rifle strapped on the handle bars. No one blinked an eye. Heck, they probably wished they were going with me. We got hacked for being disruptive in school, and the schools made the parents aware of the transgression and the penalty. When we got home, we usually faced the same 'awakening'.
Today, PC has run amok. We enact laws for the benefit of .001% of our population. It's ok to disenfranchise 99.99% of the population now. Where I'm at, we will soon have the option of placing an x on the birth certificate instead of m or f. I kid you not. When the child gets old enough to figure out what they relate to, they can change it.
What happened in such a short amount of time to create the conditions we live in today? I would venture that personal accountability is right at the top of the list, followed closely by not holding folks responsible for lacking the concept.
Todays world is all about feelings in the US. 'You hurt my feelings'. 'You hurt mine first'. 'My feelings are more important than yours'...
Politics.