The military and the police consistently rank as the most trusted institutions by the American public, above all civilian institutions. Despite left wing populist dismissal of such opinion polls, this particular one has some validity. What really matters in this case is the ranking order of institutions, which self-corrects for deficiencies of subjective ranking scales used in opinion polls. That is, the bias inherent in such scales is the same for each individual answering questions, so the ranking order produced by such scales reflects the actual preferences, even though the actual intensity of preferences varies from person to person.
It is telling therefore that the majority of respondents have more confidence in the military and the police than in the "civilian" institutions, although we do not know the actual level of their confidence in absolute terms (if there were such a measure). This is consistent with what many social scientists including myself have been arguing about people's motivation - to maintain a person's "respectability" rather than to maximize wealth or material benefits, as the rat-choice theories and Democrat politicians want us to believe. The notions of power and ability to defeat and humiliate those who "disrespect" us is a central element of it. That is why people identify with institutions that epitomize power, such as the military and the police and dislike institutions perceived as emasculated and powerless.
This is a central part of the Republican strategy to attract voters who otherwise suffer from Republican economic policies - by giving them an illusion of power through humiliating "effeminate" targets, homosexual men, wussy liberals, bleeding heart tree-huggers, etc. People may forgive the military or the police for "collateral damage" of killing some of our own, but they will never forgive them for failing to humiliate and defeat those who 'disrespected' us. This, in my view is also the main reason why so many people on the Right and the Left hate Obama and keep voting Republican. Obama turned out to be a wuss who talks and apologizes instead of kicking ass, whereas Republican kept kicking ass, even if they were in a politically disadvantaged position. This is what they they were rewarded for by the voters.
This is a "true soul" of "da people" - thirst for public spectacle of humiliation of weaklings, from gladiator fights in the antiquity, to public torture in medieval ages, to sports, animal fights, demands for incarceration, harsh punishment and military interventions, and popular politics of the Republican/Tea Party variety, in modern times.
Terrorism fits the same mold - its essence is not fighting a war in a military sense, but rather humiliating those who 'disrespected' the perpetrators in some way, be it by making them wear orange jump suits, showing unfavorable images of their deities, or encouraging "immodest" behavior of 'their' women. In that sense, terrorism gives to the 'Arab street' what their military failed to deliver, and what the US military gave to the American people - a spectacle of public humiliation of those who 'dissed' them.
This is summarized in one sentence "We are great and you suck - if you 'diss' us, we will kick your ass and publicly humiliate you." . Pretty disgusting. Once you realize this, it will cure you from populism for good.
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