Amid celebrations of our nation's 250th birthday, Gallup serves up a sobering portrait of general dissatisfaction with our nation's core institutions.

"Confidence in U.S. institutions remains near all-time low," reports Gallup.

Of 14 core institutions--banks, big business, labor, the presidency, Congress, schools, health care, etc.--only 27 percent say they have "a great deal/quite a lot of confidence," one point above the all-time low for this average.

In 1979, the percent expressing "a great deal/quite a lot of confidence" in these 14 core institutions stood at 48 percent.

One explanation is the double-edged sword of the growth of government. More government means more inefficiency. At the same time, the more government control grows, the harder it is to change and reform. More government, more interest groups, more lobbying to keep the status quo.

Let's consider education. Per Gallup, only 27 percent say they have high confidence in our public schools. The highest it's been since 1993 was 41 percent.

Any........

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