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Loss of trust induces a second effect. It leads any rational soul to spend less time exercising her democratic privileges.139 We’re all busy sorts. Some of us have families. Some hobbies. Some treat our families as hobbies. But whatever the mix that drives our day, the belief that money is buying results in Congress is a sufficient reason for us to spend less time worrying about what Congress does—at least, that is, if we don’t have money. What reason is there to rally thousands of souls to the polls if, in the end, the polls can be distracted by the money? How would you explain it to your kid? (“Willem, I don’t have time to play soccer, I’ve got to go waste my time electing a member to Congress who won’t have time to listen or do what the voters want.”) The politically engaged sorts are always quick to spread scorn on the vast majority of Americans who don’t pay attention to politics. But maybe it’s not they who deserve the scorn. How ridiculous to waste time on elections when there are soup kitchens, or churches, or schools that could use our volunteer time? As Jeffrey Birnbaum puts it, “Rather than get mad and try to change the system… most Americans have given up.”140

My claim about the relationship between trust and participation might be challenged by some. A large empirical analysis done by Steven J. Rosenstone and John Mark Hansen looking at survey data concludes that distrust of government does not reduce voter turnout.141 This conclusion has been relied upon by many to suggest that levels of trust are independent of levels of participation.142

The trust that I am speaking of, however, is more accurately described as a view about efficacy: If one believes “money buys results in Congress,” one is likely to believe that participation will be ineffective. And as Rosenstone and Hansen found, voters’ feelings of “political efficacy” and “government responsiveness” have a large effect on voter participation.143 Thomas Patterson has developed this view, arguing that “political efficacy” and confidence in government are strongly linked. Looking at the 2000 election, Patterson also found that distrust is linked to lower participation rates. Moreover, “of all the reasons Americans give for their lack of election interest, the most troubling is their belief that candidates are not very worthy of respect: that they are beholden to their financiers.”144

A recent example confirms this point. One of the groups most affected by the explosion in cynicism is the group that was most benefited by the romance with Obama: Rock the Vote!, a nonpartisan nonprofit whose mission, according to Wikipedia, is to “engage and build the political power of young people.” Founded in 1990, it has developed a range of techniques and new technology designed to register young voters, and turn them out “in every election.” In 2008 the organization “ran the largest nonpartisan voter registration drive in history”—more than 2.25 million new voters registered, and there was a substantial increase in voter turnout among the young.145

But when Rock the Vote! polled its members about their plans for the 2010 election, the single largest reason that young people offered for why they did not plan to vote was “because no matter who wins, corporate interests will still have too much power and prevent real change.”146 That echoes the response that Representative Glenn Poshard (D-Ill.; 1989–1999) got when he asked a group of students why they do not trust government: “Congressman, just follow the money. You will know why we do not trust you.”147

The belief that money is buying results produces the result that fewer and fewer of us engage. Why would one rationally waste one’s time? In the Soviet Union, the party line was that the party was to serve the workers. The workers knew better. In America, the party line is that Congress is to serve the people. But you and I know better, too. And even if we don’t actually know, our belief is producing a world where the vast majority of us disengage. Or at least the vast majority of you in the