we hang the petty thieves

The Myths We Tell Ourselves

"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office."
Your average mass media pundit regularly decries the fact Americans no longer have trust in the country's institutions, yet simultaneously refuse to take any sort of responsibility for the situation. Government bureaucrats and other assorted supporters of our decrepit status quo tend to do the same thing. As is typically the case, I'll take the other side.