Americans don’t trust our institutions. Why would they?

OPINION:

When Americans think of their institutions, they have little trust. And, why would they trust any of our institutions? 

Our federal police apparatus is being cynically used against political enemies of the Biden regime; Congress has turned into a never-ending abuse of power against phantoms and ghosts that the left believes are political enemies. 

The military is more focused on proper pronouns and other “wokeisms” than military preparedness. 

Our schools have turned into Soviet-style indoctrination camps, telling parents to stay away. Colleges continue that process and turn out left-wing automatons that understand how to organize a riot but can’t organize a sentence. 

Big business has now embraced the crazy left in the culture war and is now foisting Marxist ideas like environmental, social and governance scores into credit evaluations. 

Even many churches, which Americans have thought were the rock upon which we could build our house of values, and which formerly loved the sinner but hated the sin, have now embraced both sin and sinner.

To add gas to the fire, we constantly see the two-tiered justice system. Grandmas with cancer who strolled through the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, are sentenced to 60 days in jail, while rioters who attempted murder in Portland during the riots of 2020 go uncharged.

The people who are in charge of border security order Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to not enforce the law. The Biden regime tells the world to come to America bringing violent criminals, terrorists and a surfeit of drugs and destruction.

Why would Americans trust their institutions? 

In a little observed move last week we see one more beautiful example of how corrupt our own government has become.

It was already widely reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul, had allegedly used inside information that allowed the already wealthy Pelosis to make more than $31 million on stock trading. But last week it was reported that just ahead of a bill that will be brought before the House of Representatives for a vote, Mr. Pelosi invested $5 million into an American semiconductor company.

The timing is important because the legislation coming up in Congress will subsidize American semiconductor manufacturing with $52 billion.

That’s bad enough. If you or I did that, basing our investments on insider knowledge, such as being in control of congressional votes or knowing their timing, we’d be in big trouble from federal regulators.

Looks like Mrs. Pelosi has that covered though. In a weird floor announcement last week, Mrs. Pelosi asked all of the members of Congress to give an ovation to one of her long-time, outgoing staffers. She then announced that he will be moving over to the Security and Exchange Commission-the agency that regulates insider trading and other stock trading activities.

The timing of the Pelosi stock trade, the congressional vote, and the movement of Mrs. Pelosi’s staffer to the SEC may be nothing more than an interesting artifact, a coincidence. 

But to many Americans, it will surely seem to be a feature of the current corrupt system of government. And, it is simply one more reason for Americans to mistrust our institutions.

• Rep. Andy Biggs represents Arizona’s 5th Congressional District. He serves on the House Judiciary and Oversight committees.