How to fix distrust in government  By Lee H. Hamilton  7 months
20 days ago |7 Views | | | Email | Print   A lot of this ire is
focused on Congress, which an overwhelming majority believe is
incapable of acting on behalf of the nation as a whole, but it
has come to take in all of Washington. The poll’s findings can
be summed up in the words of one respondent, a small-
businesswoman from Arizona. “Probably the government in
Washington could be trusted at one time,” she told the Times,
“but now it seems like it’s all a game of who wins rather than
what’s best for the people.”    It is a fact of life that
American voters respond to likability — a sense of connection —
in their candidates. But that’s not how they judge politicians
once they’re in office. Instead, they really do care about how
elected officials govern.  To start, they want fairness from
Washington. Whatever you think of the Tea Party or Occupy Wall
Street, both have touched a nerve, a sense that our political
leaders have not just grown distant fro