Basis

It's easy to believe in the corruption of small governments in foreign countries. It's easy to let the idea into our heads that the men leading ragtag militias on other islands are selfish, brutal, ruthless, and care little for the anything other than their own gain and the opportunity to grasp absolute control. We can see pictures of their faces and envision them shooting children with assault rifles. We credit them with the rows of dead bodies, burned out buildings, and massive destitution. We believe they are just that kind of people.
Somehow, it's not so easy to believe the same of our own people, our own nation, our own leaders. Let me tell you this: there are no "kinds" of people, there are only people. People and power and the drive the first have to gain the second.
Why do we want so badly to believe that in our nation, where the power and wealth to be seized are gargantuan in comparison and the means to access them are themselves far more powerful and far more subtle, the people at the top, or within reach of the top, are benevolent and caring, selfless and considerate?