We're losing our national soul to the greedy few

So now the Pew Research Center has conducted a survey to tell us what we already know: Our federal government can't be trusted. What a surprise! Perhaps it might be more instructive to cast a wider net to include chief executives of corporations - mining, insurance, tobacco, automobile - Wall Street firms, the pope. And, oh, yes, perhaps the list should include trusting our daughters with National Football League players. Ouch!

Where should the list end? Is anyone to be trusted? And what happens in a society when no one can be trusted? What is driving this frenzy which seems to be corroding the fabric of our way of life? Well, here is the short list: Greed and hubris. When the big guys think they are above the rest of us, then we all pay the price. We seem to want our cake and to eat it, too.

With the likes of Bernie Madoff and Don Blankenship steering the ship, is it any wonder that we run for cover? And where do we have to run except to the Fed to install controls, which should have been there in the first place? We may think that controls dampen the spirit of free enterprise, but you have to wonder about "free" when we are all losing our shirts or our lives so that a few fat cats can rip us all off.

We are losing our soul and forgetting our roots. America used to be considered a beacon of light to the world. We had better start remembering soon before it is too late.

JOHN JONES
Mount Washington