The title of this column came to mind as I observed events of the past few days.  Jesus taught that lesson.  President Lincoln used it to explain why America could not survive half slave and half free.  Our house is perilously divided by mistrust.

A private espionage company, owned and staffed by retired British MI6 agents, produced a report alleging collusion, payments and sex scandals between President-elect Trump, his team and Kremlin officials including Vladimir Putin.  The report suggests that the Russians have succeeded at three goals, helping Trump win the election, getting information that can be used to blackmail him, and undermining the confidence of citizens in American democracy.  The report has been in the possession of the FBI and some news organizations since October, 2016.  US intelligence agencies did not mention it in the public version of their report on Russian involvement in our election, but they did provide a summary to President-elect Trump and President Obama.

Then on January 10, 2017 BuzzFeed, an online news organization, published the document. Donald Trump angrily denied all of the accusations, blasted the report as “fake news” and suggested that it was leaked by American intelligence agencies to embarrass him.  The US Director of National intelligence denies that.

In another example of mistrust, the FBI’s on then off then on-again investigations of Mrs. Clinton aroused suspicion of her and suspicion that the FBI was intentionally influencing the election.  FBI reports affirm that Russian operatives stole confidential information from American (Democratic Party) computers and used it in an attempt to influence our election.  In-arguably, the FBI Director relied on information thought to be stolen from Americans by Russian spies as a basis for publicly reopening the Clinton e-mail investigation at a critical moment in the campaign.

We don’t know whether the FBI investigated allegations about Trump and the Russians.  By talking about the Clinton investigation but not the Trump allegations, our FBI Director may have (intentionally or not) aided the Russian effort to influence our election.

I don’t know the whole truth about any of these matters and neither do readers of this column.  But I do know that there are millions of Americans ready to believe the worst about other Americans. Neither presidential candidate was trusted by the majority of Americans.  Many of us, like our President-elect, trust our intelligence agencies only when their reports confirm what we already believe.  Our trust problems extend beyond the federal government to other fundamental institutions like courts, police and public schools.

The corrosion of trust in American institutions and leadership is a slow and insidious process nourished by public officials who mislead us or lie to us.  Lies or deception by Presidents and other officials were used to generate support for the Vietnam War, to secretly and illegally sell arms to Iran then divert the revenue to support right-wing militia groups that overthrew the government of Nicaragua, and to support the Iraq war that destabilized the entire Middle East.

Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”  Our house is divided against itself, and that makes us nearly defenseless against efforts like the Russian intervention in our election.  A free, democratic nation relies on the integrity and trust of its institutions, officeholders and citizens.  That is where our dangers and opportunities lie.

Here are a few ideas that might help us recover trust.

• The congress should commission a full not-partisan investigation with subpoena powers and report  findings to the public.
• Voters in both primary and general elections should consider the candidate’s integrity and character as absolutely vital credentials. Imagine where we might be today if our general election had featured Lindsay Graham or John Kasich against Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders.  Roughly half the nation would still be unhappy with the outcome of the election, but maybe fewer Americans would see our President-elect as the enemy.
• A law should be passed making it illegal for any government official to intentionally lie to or mislead the public. The penalty for violations should be termination of employment or removal from elected office.
• The Senate and Donald Trump should insist that all cabinet nominees complete their ethics reports and background checks before Senate committees vote.
• Trump should release his tax returns immediately to shrink the cloud of suspicion hanging over him.

If you have more or better ideas, it’s time to share them.

Click green links above for background information and documents.

The new report alleging collusion, payments and sex scandals is also here 

If it’s accurate, this one is a bombshell:  BBC coverage of the report and its credibility.

The declassified version of the intelligence agencies report to Trump and Obama is here.