“Trust is the coin of the realm for creating the harmony, speed and teamwork to achieve success at the lowest cost.” - Jim Mattis

Success seems like a big ask lately, on a national level. Triumph seems difficult to quantify in the face of a deadly pandemic and the fallout of social and racial injustice ransacking our streets. What does a win look like? For illness, success = survival. Already we have lost almost 150,000 Americans to COVID-19 and still we are speaking in terms of “beating the virus” and some version of winning in this scenario. There are hundreds of thousands of families who would disagree.

And what does a win look like for the social justice warriors who are burning down our cities? Does it look like sweeping widespread reform in law enforcement and is that really the answer? Or is it a slow, multi-generational return to Liberty and Justice for ALL? Who determines these “successes"“? Clearly there is no cost-free success. As Mattis stated, the goal is success at the lowest cost. Whether measured in human life, economic recovery, social restoration or civil equality, these monumental battles have already effected devastating losses. And are we even working toward success?

If trust is the “coin of the realm” - the currency to buy a low-cost success… from my estimation we have some saving to do. Trust has been decimated between leaders (both scientific and political) and the people, and it has been eroded between the people themselves. Harmony, speed and teamwork are all but laughable fantasies in the culture that this pandemic and social upheaval have created. Changing narratives, shifting goal posts, endless divisiveness at even the highest levels of government, medicine and society have reduced this country to an every-man-for-himself culture, like a universal feud between every American and his neighbor. The pandemic, the social injustice - these aren’t our worst enemies - the real enemy is the wedge of distrust between a people and their leadership.

How did we get here? Other than decades of covert secrets kept by the government from the people? Other than the pandemic spread of misinformation, propaganda, hysteria and conspiracies through unharnessed social media and news outlets owned by political and economic interests? Other than global infiltration of our information feeds by nations and agendas secreted away in their trojan horses? Other than over-response and under-response and partisan response from all levels of elected leadership?

None of us know which voices to listen to anymore. Certainly not the doctors who have reversed their position repeatedly on multiple fronts, only to violate their own recommendations and mock the communities they instruct. Certainly not politicians with their hands buried deeply in the pockets of multi-billion dollar industries and non-profits. Certainly not our grandparents who have lived through far worse and continue on day-to-day, courageously unwilling to give up living in order to live longer. Certainly not our children who are too young and naive to know that cops or black people or white people are the enemy.

Trust is built through open communication, transparency and integrity. Trust is destroyed by the “do what I say, not what I do” and finger pointing flippancy of our leaders. Trust is fed by humility and owning mistakes. It flourishes when actions and words are reconciled. Nationally, this is rarely exhibited. Locally, only slightly more so. I have never been more convinced of the importance of political involvement from the ground up. Of the importance of every vote. Of the importance of the action of every person.

More lives will be lost from this pandemic. More lives will be destroyed by the social unrest. The cost of any success is now high, but if we do not start to pull together to pay it, the losses could be catastrophic.

We can’t find success on any of these fronts until we rebuild trust in our communities and our nation. Each of us has an opportunity to act with integrity and honesty to rebuild. We have a chance to vote for candidates who foster transparency and humility. We have an opportunity to find common ground and build alliances for the sake of success with people that we might normally be at odds with. At the end of the day, we are all seeking the same thing: “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…”

The general welfare is threatened greatly in this moment of history. Each of us should be asking what we can do to promote it. To establish Justice. To insure domestic tranquility. To form a more Perfect Union.