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Roth convenes University of Hawaii urban planning professor Kem Lowry, former Hawaii Office of State Planning director Norma Wong, and State Representative Alex Santiago to examine why public trust in government has collapsed. Lowry opens with hard numbers: distrust measured by the Roper Organization climbed from 30 percent of Americans in 1966 to 75 percent in 1993, while presidential voter turnout is down 25 to 30 percent since 1960. Wong resists calling it hate—she sees the mood as cyclical grumpiness amplified by a media that favors conflict over context, a point Santiago echoes with sharp criticism of coverage of the legislature's national conference trip. Santiago argues most of his colleagues fly coach and act responsibly, while the handful who do not earn all the headlines. A caller identifying himself as the head of Common Cause Hawaii challenges the legislature's opaque budget process, generating a tense exchange. Wong warns that constant bashing of government risks driving good people away from public life, a concern Santiago says is already visible when he speaks to high school seniors about political careers.
Transcript
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Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
