What if trust is the key to saving our democracy?

Spoiler: It is.

Photo by Copper and Wild on Unsplash

What if trust is the key to saving democracy?

Researchers with the 2025 World Happiness Report just discovered it is.

For the first time, they measured both life satisfaction AND social trust—revealing a powerful connection that helps explain our current political landscape.

Here are the top takeaways:

📈 When trust plummets, extremism rises — but with a crucial pattern: Low trust + unhappiness drives people toward the right, while the left generally maintains higher trust levels despite life dissatisfaction.

📖 The authoritarian playbook relies on eroding trust. The report confirms declining trust is fueling far-right movements across the US and Europe. When we stop trusting institutions, experts, and each other, dismantling democratic systems becomes far easier.

💔 This is by design. Authoritarian leaders worldwide aren't just benefiting from our division—they're actively engineering it through isolation, fear, and destroying faith in shared truth.

The findings are sobering but the report also offers insights on kindness, empathy, and generosity that point to solutions. It is worth taking the time to check out the full report here. Here are a few starting suggestions:

☑️ Be trustworthy

☑️ Have each other’s backs

☑️ Eat meals together

☑️ Show up to support young people (this one is really important)

☑️ Perform small acts of kindness (here are a few easy ideas!)

☑️ Shout someone out for being kind and/or empathetic

☑️ Demonstrate solidarity by being a voice for truth, connecting people to opportunities, spending your privilege, and showing up when people need it

Trust is built in small building blocks. We may have a ways to go but it starts in our homes and communities.

To honor the words of the incomparable Cory Booker: "No matter what, we always have the power to choose hope over despair, engagement over apathy, kindness over indifference, enthusiasm over lethargy, love over hate. This is our true freedom. Whatever life may throw at us, we have the freedom and ability to choose our attitude. And I believe it is in those moments of choice that we manifest our destiny."

What is one trust-building action you can take this week?

With love and gratitude,

Amber