Читать книгу THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY - Steve Zolno - Страница 9

There are specific ways by which our institutions and governments succeed or fail. Success depends on establishing and maintaining trust. Preserving trust must be an ongoing effort if human interactions are not to regress to inequality or tyranny. This requires a commitment to maintain respect for every individual. Only ongoing respectful communication can guarantee the trust needed for democratic interactions.

Cooperation based on trust is the most important tenet of every successful human interaction. It allows us to establish long-term connections as we create ongoing, non-threatening relationships. The cooperative pursuit of goals in our homes, schools, communities, nations, and international institutions benefits us all.

Trust is the ‘glue’ that binds us. It allows us to identify and promote mutual self-interest. Trust encourages effective communication to take place both within, and between, nations.³

The democratic process involves making agreements with others that all are expected to keep. By living in a democratic society we agree to follow laws that are made by elected representatives on our behalf. In well-functioning democracies we support each other in mutual self-interest; laws are made and enforced for the benefit of all. Trust is essential to maintaining agreements, even if it is a guarded trust, because it makes democratic interactions and governments possible. It encourages respect for human dignity and rights. It allows democracy to exist and – hopefully – to thrive.

Every family, organization, community, city and nation is made up of people whose customs and laws reflect their views about how they should interact. Within the family, there usually is a degree of trust that results in an ability to live and work together. As we participate in organizations such as businesses or governments, successful interactions also rely on trust. Our faith in the governments that so greatly affect our lives is based on whether we can trust those who run them. But as our myths, history, and experience tell us, trust easily can be betrayed and turned to distrust.