Trust matters. What if I told you nine qualities matter more to voters than the economy, border, immigration, crime, national security, perhaps even than party? Think me foolish? Maybe, maybe not.
Trust, accountability, authenticity, integrity, reliability, follow-through, thoughtfulness, patience, and a sense that the person you are voting for has some understanding of the world you live in, the core values you believe as you personally interact with other people, may matter more than we think.
While data is scattered, we know a few things for certain. Trust is low in candidates, elected officials, and government – especially at the federal level. Many Americans feel betrayed, reflexively distrustful.
As a group, we want to trust, but we doubt. We are tired of being lied to, taken for fools, given shaded truths, being deliberately misled, or left in the dark by those who think they are smarter. It all grates.
Accountability is the way you verify trust, how someone upholding your trust shows they are worth it, all in, right there, understand the mission, will not let you down, want you to know they are on the case.
Likewise, authenticity is important – and rightly questioned. Why? Because so much of everything is fake, altered or hard to corroborate, from news and cue cards to artificial intelligence and legislative titles.
People are sick of fake, fakeness, being told what to believe by people as fake as the ideologies and rants they push. People want to know who someone really is, and have a right to know. They want to know what they really believe, how they act when not on camera, service ethic and humility, or just pretend?
Here is an epiphany, just raw: Americans, whether well-educated or less, white collar, blue collar, or (these days) no collar, gig economy, have more common sense than politicians know. They want real.
Integrity? Where do we begin? When we decide to trust someone with our money, a loved one, house, or responsibility, we look for integrity. We want someone whose word means something, who does what they say they will, who lives by a code, can look you in the eye, speak honestly, and you know it.
That is true when searching for a financial manager, banker, babysitter, caregiver, dogwalker, house sitter, renter, realtor, someone you trust to fulfill a promise, deliver a gift or a letter, send what you paid for, perform a job, or be where they said they would be. How much more, when it is our country?
Reliability? You bet, counts more than anything you can say about jobs, the border, crime, drugs, guns, or anything you read off a card to rile me up, put me down, make me mad, glad, sad, or vote. If what you say is a “pie crust promise,” easily made, easily broken, why do I care? Reliability is your word in action.
Follow-through? Seriously? If you have to ask twice, as Colin Powell would tell you, that is once too many times. Reliability requires follow-through. This is also – for reasons some wise anthropologist will someday tell me – a genetic failing in most politicians. Words are cheap, but people remember, always.
Thoughtfulness. Who do you value most in life? Why? How do you show them you value them, appreciate the trust they vest in you, how they treat you, what they mean to you, who they are, why they count? You are thoughtful, try to be. Leaders care about their people. So do good politicians, a lot.
Patience? The people I appreciate the most are often the ones who tell me, with compassion and respect, that I am wrong. They want me to be right, are pulling for me. They listen when I offer back my views, they absorb them, sometimes even change theirs. Jefferson did for Adams, John did for Abagail.
Finally, with regard to having some understanding of your life and core values, what is more important for a political leader? Hardly anything.
So, yes – the economy, border, immigration, crime, national security, and party matter, as do other issues, but … without a trusted messenger, person of principle, authentic advocate who assumes they owe you accountability, authenticity, integrity, reliability, follow-through, thoughtfulness, patience, what have you? Not much. This is what candidates are missing, and should not. Trust matters.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
