It's Trust all the Way Down
A Sermon for my Students
My class at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy on American Foreign Policy Process ended Tuesday night. For the last few years, I’ve ended the class with a short non-religious sermon. As a School of Public Policy, our work is not theoretical, we are training students to participate in making and implementing policy in government in NGOs, etc. So I try to leave my students with some practical wisdom. This year, I thought I would share it here.
Bertrand Russell, one of the great philosophers of the 20th century gave a public lecture on the nature of the universe. An old woman said, “Professor Russell, it is well known that the earth rests on the back of four elephants who stand on the back of a giant turtle.”
Russell replied, “Madame, what does the turtle stand on?”
The woman answered, “That’s easy. It’s turtles all the way down.”
We are not philosophers studying metaphysics. We are students of public policy, preparing to, in the words of our Constitution:
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.
High-minded words after classes on budgeting, policy analysis, and the other practical skills on offer here. But it’s worth remembering our higher—dare I say sacred—purpose.
You’ve learned these skills to use as you go to work in the government or NGOs, or wherever life takes you. But all of it rests on something bigger and more profound.
It’s trust all the way down.
We began class reading an article from the great statesman, Secretary of State George Schultz who wrote, as he celebrated his hundredth birthday:
Trust is fundamental, reciprocal and, ideally, pervasive. If it is present, anything is possible. If it is absent, nothing is possible. The best leaders trust their followers with the truth, and you know what happens as a result? Their followers trust them back. With that bond, they can do big, hard things together, changing the world for the better.
The central text of this class In the Shadow of the Oval Office, by my advisor, the late I.M. Destler, and Ivo Daalder, traces the evolution of the role of the National Security Advisor. They write that for the National Security Advisor, trust is the coin of the realm. Other officials need to trust that the National Security Advisor is presenting their views to the president fairly and not skewing the process. The president needs to trust that the National Security Advisor is bringing them everything they need to make a good decision.
Speaking of coins, our money says: “In God we Trust.”
As we know from our reading on the end of the Bretton Woods system and gold standard, our money itself isn’t based on anything. We trust that it has value. Sure there are vast and complex institutions that underpin and support the U.S. dollar and for that matter the very concept of money. But peak underneath these formal structures and you’ll see…
It’s trust all the way down.
Currency is an institution. Ranging from large organizations or social conventions, institutions enable large scale cooperation. They underpin society. And they are all rooted in trust.
It’s trust all the way down.
What is trust? The dictionary says trust is the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. The word trust is believed to come from the old Norse word traust, meaning help, confidence, protection, support.
Reliability, strength, help, confidence, and support. Trust is about caring. Caring for one another and how our actions affect others.
Trust is hard to build, the work of years or decades. But it can be destroyed in moments. We are seeing trust disappear in our nation and around the world. Do we trust our government fulfill its functions? Protecting us, not just from malfeasance, but also from accidents and disasters. Do we trust the information we read, see, or hear to be accurate and true? Can we even trust our infrastructure, the physical systems we really on?
Trust is way, way down.
In times like this we need trust more than ever. People are not meant to live solitary lives, fending for themselves.
We don’t want to the law of the jungle; we want help as we struggle.
When trust is in short supply, we will rally to those who can earn it. They will be the ones who strengthen and rebuild our institutions and our society.
So my parting words to you, if there is one lesson I can offer it is this. Of course you should be prudent in trusting. But far more important is that as you go forth in careers, your relationships, and in your lives, I enjoin you to strive to be worthy—worthy of trust.