Government Authority and Respect

In case you missed it, Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee had this to say, during a taped interview broadcast this past Sunday on WLNE-TV's (ABC 6) "On the Record With Buddy [Cianci]" and linked to by Katherine Gregg of the Projo...

[T]he media just gets themselves whipped up...who's the piñata of the day, who's the punching bag of the day. And the respect that used to be afforded to leaders [has] eroded across the country, not just Rhode Island.

The relationship between government and respect was also the subject of an email reprinted by Jonathan Haidt, a leading authority on the social psychology of politics, in his recently published The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion...

The enemy of society to a liberal is someone who abuses their power (Authority) and still demands, and in some cases forces, others to "respect" them anyway.

(I personally wouldn't limit that thought to just liberals, but I digress).

The important connection is that when Rhode Island's citizens (whether members of the media or not) think of state government, while they may not immediately think of authority being abused, they certainly can find ample instances of it not being well used. If you believe that Professor Haidt and his correspondent are on to something, then Governor Chafee should be aware that the lack of "respect" that he senses may say more about the government he leads -- and perhaps about his own leadership -- than it does about his critics.