Unlike medicine and science, politics is a direct reflection / distillation of human nature. The same tactics that work in the field of medicine will not make politicians trustworthy. If we really want to clean up politics, we need to take a hard look at political parties, what they do and how they operate - and then either change or eliminate them. The parties, for the most part, represent the worst elements of human nature (greed, self-interest, the lust for power, ends justify means, duplicity). To say that they are a necessary evil is a cop-out. You can’t fix politics without fixing parties. When it comes to government and politics, less is more.
We The People demand that our politicians pander to us with dishonest negative partisanship and unrealistic promises of increased spending without higher taxes, higher wages without higher prices, wars without casualties, and the like.
Since we immediately fire any politician who respects the opposition or dares tell us uncomfortable truths, it’s not surprising that we have so little respect for people we hire to lie to us.
I think that’s the right assessment about politics currently (exhibiting worse elements of human nature), but you can’t fix the political parties without removing excessive democracy. Political parties are increasingly doing the bidding of voters and polls to serve the people at the national level, rather than focusing on doing what’s best for the country.
For example, if we had a pre 1970’s system of electing presidential candidates in the primaries, Donald Trump would never have been picked to be the candidate of the Republican party in 2016. McGovern commission changed all that by leaving it up to the voters. Democracy is best served locally, not nationally.
If we want better governance, we need better gatekeeping.
When was this survey taken? Pre or post COVID? Post COVID the medical and science community have taken a huge hit to their credibility. They still might be more credible than politicians, but should not be at the top.
They traded science and the Hippocratic oath for political activism and SM likes. They have a lot of work to do to earn that credibility back. This begins with the admission that they were so very wrong, which they are refusing to acknowledge.
Trust went up in 2021 down a bit in 2022 and has been pretty steady since. Trust in doctors is actually higher than it was pre-COVID. There’s a time series chart in their report. But yes every profession takes a reputation hit when politics enters the fray. Politics kills everything.
Keep fighting. Keep asking those questions. Look up the answers yourself, even if the doctor bothers to explain a little something. Look up the side effects of every med before taking. Medicine is a for-profit business, and patient welfare is unfortunately last on the list. More's the pity, but we need to take care of ourselves, because no one else will.
You bet - they really don't want to be questioned and I'm sure they hate that we "dumb" patients read research online and come into their offices with intelligent questions or provable dissenting views. A couple in my area almost put my partner in the hospital until we found one who would give him the medical management he needed.
All govt-funded medicine deserved to get hammered & they did. The NIH, NIAID, CDC, FDA are so horribly corrupt that we could compare them to politicians themselves. See Fauci et al. That said, I trust a lot of doctors that I personally know, but if they were in any way defending the govt during Covid, I don't trust them at all, and never will.
Government corruption is mostly caused by money from private organizations like Big Pharma, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, SpaceX, Anthropic, etc. High ranking government officials are ALL political appointees and would never get their jobs without connections. Many alternate between government and corporate jobs. Corporations want government rules to favor their profits over individual people's welfare.
Fauci was a government employee, but the influence of vaccine companies was clear to see during Covid. They wanted a treatment they could make the biggest profit from, and pre-existing options like Vitamin D and even old Rx meds, weren't profitable enough for them, so evidence for all of that was suppressed.
Of course, bias is also a big reason for medical incompetence and failures. It isn't all corruption. People, even scientists, have certain ideas about what is supposed to be true, and mostly ignore research results they don't like, for whatever reason.
Science has limits, even when done well, because it can only study what can be observed and measured. Our present knowledge is not, and never will be perfect. There is never complete certainty, and always more to learn. If you need certainty, find a religion to comfort you. Don't worship science.
Even the best doctors are rushed, flawed human beings who have a thousand other concerns besides you. They aren't infallible. They often don't know every medication's side effects, and can't keep track of all the thousands of new studies that come out every year--even if they read them 24/7 instead of practicing medicine. They make mistakes. They are not deserving of unquestioning faith and obedience.
In order to take care of yourself, you have to think for yourself. Consult a doctor, but don't take everything he/she says as gospel truth. You wouldn't worship a lawyer or accountant, would you? As Ronald Reagan used to say: Trust but verify.
I wish my experience with primary care doctors was as good as yours. So far I’ve only experienced Doctors that want to mandate flu shots and COVID booster and other pharmaceuticals. Anything holistic is junk science. Their judgement is appalling.
That’s difficult. My internist is an old friend and near retirement and he kept his head on straight during covid. An infectious disease doc I know was on the news 3 times a week and he sold his soul to covid fame. I’m with you, I don’t care what John’s poll says (the political ones are always wildly wrong), in the real world(not DC), medicine overall has taken a huge hit. I’m a nurse and I have heavy skepticism about all Pharma. Find a functional medicine doctor or homeopathic doctor. Get fit and thin and stay the hell out of hospitals unless you have an emergency. No vaccines, especially ridiculous covid boosters. A few medical substacks—The Forgotten Side of Medicine, Lies are Unbekoming (weird spelling), Medical Underground.
Doctors and researchers are humans and they are prone to the same weaknesses as everybody else. Of course, their actions should be aided and guided by the scientific method, but, alas, it is often not. Read Dr Vinay Prasad and Research translation on Substack. It is eye opening.
Doctors are no more trustworthy than politicians. They are human and have the same flaws as the rest of us. They lie, cheat, steal, etc.-- and all for more money. If I had trusted doctors without questioning them and doing my own research, I would be dead.
I called the ambulance with a rare, severe asthma attack. I have had asthma since I was 9 years old, but the doctors said I was lying and refused to call my allergist. When I showed my asthma meds to the nurse, she confiscated them. I was finally allowed to have some meds, but was still having asthma attacks several times daily, and most of the staff was still refusing to call the techs allowed to administer my rescue inhaler. I begged to see an asthma specialist, but was refused. Meanwhile, the doctors tried to force me to take beta blockers that would have stopped the rescue inhaler (beta agonist) from working.
This is only the tip of the iceberg of the nightmare. I fought them all and lived. If I had done what they wanted, I would have died.
Great article, really highlights some fundamental issues with politics. As a public servant, the lack of trust in government also really hinders what we are capable of doing. Elected officials don’t do much to help its reputation.
Pollsters have lost significant credibility during the Age of Trump. For that group to be positive and Lawyers to be break even bring the poll results into question.
I'm not sure the general expert class (including doctors and scientists after Covid exposed them) creditability can recover.
Unlike medicine and science, politics is a direct reflection / distillation of human nature. The same tactics that work in the field of medicine will not make politicians trustworthy. If we really want to clean up politics, we need to take a hard look at political parties, what they do and how they operate - and then either change or eliminate them. The parties, for the most part, represent the worst elements of human nature (greed, self-interest, the lust for power, ends justify means, duplicity). To say that they are a necessary evil is a cop-out. You can’t fix politics without fixing parties. When it comes to government and politics, less is more.
We The People demand that our politicians pander to us with dishonest negative partisanship and unrealistic promises of increased spending without higher taxes, higher wages without higher prices, wars without casualties, and the like.
Since we immediately fire any politician who respects the opposition or dares tell us uncomfortable truths, it’s not surprising that we have so little respect for people we hire to lie to us.
I think that’s the right assessment about politics currently (exhibiting worse elements of human nature), but you can’t fix the political parties without removing excessive democracy. Political parties are increasingly doing the bidding of voters and polls to serve the people at the national level, rather than focusing on doing what’s best for the country.
For example, if we had a pre 1970’s system of electing presidential candidates in the primaries, Donald Trump would never have been picked to be the candidate of the Republican party in 2016. McGovern commission changed all that by leaving it up to the voters. Democracy is best served locally, not nationally.
If we want better governance, we need better gatekeeping.
Accountability. Responsibility. Consequences. All severely lacking in politics and government especially; but in general throughout.
When was this survey taken? Pre or post COVID? Post COVID the medical and science community have taken a huge hit to their credibility. They still might be more credible than politicians, but should not be at the top.
They traded science and the Hippocratic oath for political activism and SM likes. They have a lot of work to do to earn that credibility back. This begins with the admission that they were so very wrong, which they are refusing to acknowledge.
Trust went up in 2021 down a bit in 2022 and has been pretty steady since. Trust in doctors is actually higher than it was pre-COVID. There’s a time series chart in their report. But yes every profession takes a reputation hit when politics enters the fray. Politics kills everything.
Hard to believe. My experience with most doctors has been combative. As soon as I question or ask for details it’s eye rolling and judgement.
Keep fighting. Keep asking those questions. Look up the answers yourself, even if the doctor bothers to explain a little something. Look up the side effects of every med before taking. Medicine is a for-profit business, and patient welfare is unfortunately last on the list. More's the pity, but we need to take care of ourselves, because no one else will.
You bet - they really don't want to be questioned and I'm sure they hate that we "dumb" patients read research online and come into their offices with intelligent questions or provable dissenting views. A couple in my area almost put my partner in the hospital until we found one who would give him the medical management he needed.
All govt-funded medicine deserved to get hammered & they did. The NIH, NIAID, CDC, FDA are so horribly corrupt that we could compare them to politicians themselves. See Fauci et al. That said, I trust a lot of doctors that I personally know, but if they were in any way defending the govt during Covid, I don't trust them at all, and never will.
Government corruption is mostly caused by money from private organizations like Big Pharma, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, SpaceX, Anthropic, etc. High ranking government officials are ALL political appointees and would never get their jobs without connections. Many alternate between government and corporate jobs. Corporations want government rules to favor their profits over individual people's welfare.
Fauci was a government employee, but the influence of vaccine companies was clear to see during Covid. They wanted a treatment they could make the biggest profit from, and pre-existing options like Vitamin D and even old Rx meds, weren't profitable enough for them, so evidence for all of that was suppressed.
Of course, bias is also a big reason for medical incompetence and failures. It isn't all corruption. People, even scientists, have certain ideas about what is supposed to be true, and mostly ignore research results they don't like, for whatever reason.
Science has limits, even when done well, because it can only study what can be observed and measured. Our present knowledge is not, and never will be perfect. There is never complete certainty, and always more to learn. If you need certainty, find a religion to comfort you. Don't worship science.
Even the best doctors are rushed, flawed human beings who have a thousand other concerns besides you. They aren't infallible. They often don't know every medication's side effects, and can't keep track of all the thousands of new studies that come out every year--even if they read them 24/7 instead of practicing medicine. They make mistakes. They are not deserving of unquestioning faith and obedience.
In order to take care of yourself, you have to think for yourself. Consult a doctor, but don't take everything he/she says as gospel truth. You wouldn't worship a lawyer or accountant, would you? As Ronald Reagan used to say: Trust but verify.
Agree entirely.
I wish my experience with primary care doctors was as good as yours. So far I’ve only experienced Doctors that want to mandate flu shots and COVID booster and other pharmaceuticals. Anything holistic is junk science. Their judgement is appalling.
That’s difficult. My internist is an old friend and near retirement and he kept his head on straight during covid. An infectious disease doc I know was on the news 3 times a week and he sold his soul to covid fame. I’m with you, I don’t care what John’s poll says (the political ones are always wildly wrong), in the real world(not DC), medicine overall has taken a huge hit. I’m a nurse and I have heavy skepticism about all Pharma. Find a functional medicine doctor or homeopathic doctor. Get fit and thin and stay the hell out of hospitals unless you have an emergency. No vaccines, especially ridiculous covid boosters. A few medical substacks—The Forgotten Side of Medicine, Lies are Unbekoming (weird spelling), Medical Underground.
The plastic surgeon I took my friend to (cancer treatment) was awesome - then I read that he was part of the local trans-surgery team. Ugh.
Polítics, as Law is an adversarial job. There is no “win win”, and zero sum games lead to low trust.
Doctors and researchers are humans and they are prone to the same weaknesses as everybody else. Of course, their actions should be aided and guided by the scientific method, but, alas, it is often not. Read Dr Vinay Prasad and Research translation on Substack. It is eye opening.
Doctors are no more trustworthy than politicians. They are human and have the same flaws as the rest of us. They lie, cheat, steal, etc.-- and all for more money. If I had trusted doctors without questioning them and doing my own research, I would be dead.
I called the ambulance with a rare, severe asthma attack. I have had asthma since I was 9 years old, but the doctors said I was lying and refused to call my allergist. When I showed my asthma meds to the nurse, she confiscated them. I was finally allowed to have some meds, but was still having asthma attacks several times daily, and most of the staff was still refusing to call the techs allowed to administer my rescue inhaler. I begged to see an asthma specialist, but was refused. Meanwhile, the doctors tried to force me to take beta blockers that would have stopped the rescue inhaler (beta agonist) from working.
This is only the tip of the iceberg of the nightmare. I fought them all and lived. If I had done what they wanted, I would have died.
My same story - thank you for sharing!
Great article, really highlights some fundamental issues with politics. As a public servant, the lack of trust in government also really hinders what we are capable of doing. Elected officials don’t do much to help its reputation.
You might also find my most recent post interesting, which talks about this very issue: Please let me know your thoughts on it if you’re so inclined: https://substack.com/@axelghinea/note/p-216470512?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=25a838
Pollsters have lost significant credibility during the Age of Trump. For that group to be positive and Lawyers to be break even bring the poll results into question.
I'm not sure the general expert class (including doctors and scientists after Covid exposed them) creditability can recover.
This is across 31 countries—not all have the same crazy politics as the U.S.