shutdown in washington, obama care, lance armstrong and ryan braun, the edward snowden leaks, listeningarab spring falling into tumult, to name a few. you have a poll here. very interesting. do you trust people you meet away from home? and the answers are a great deal 19%, somewhat 49% and not much 29%. i'll do one more. the direction of the country headed in the right direction versus off on the wrong track? big, big jump there, ben? >> certainly a year where you saw the power of american government and any sense that american government could get stuff done could have any control of events overseas or here challenged. if that's the perspective, not great year. >> what's driving the dysfunction? >>, you know, i think people are -- i think people's distrust goes beyond government. i think people are distrustful of one another. i think people -- many americans feel that things just aren't working, that institutions don't deliver for them, that they -- there was one of the polls that i cited in the story says that people feel that the -- leaders in washington just don't care about what ha