Romney’s Tax Returns, Obama’s Birth Certificate and the End of Trust
At The Washington Post, Marc Fisher writes that Americans’ increasing insistence on disclosure of political and business documents is a sign of the growing distrust of “politics, the news media, business and virtually every other major institution” in America. Fisher argues that Romney should release his tax returns, as Obama released his birth certificate. But in a political and cultural environment in which distrust is the default position, Fisher is skeptical that disclosure will do all that much to change public opinion. “[W]ithout a basic compact of belief between the governed and the government, even towering stacks of paper won’t clear the air,” Fisher writes.