All week The Takeaway has been talking about issues of trust: Trust in God was the topic at hand on Tuesday, as America's national motto, "In God We Trust," was officially reaffirmed by the House of Representatives. The Takeaway asked listeners what they think of the motto. Like it? Think it’s inappropriate? Have any better ideas? The Takeaway got your responses and also encountered the issue of trust in a much different context — trust in politicians. Allegations of sexual harassment against Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain were reported earlier in the week.

Yesterday on The Takeaway, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said one of the best ways to ensure the continued success of American democracy is to get young people engaged again. "My commercial message is let's restore the teaching of civics to the high schools so that younger generations will know how their government works," Breyer said. "They’ll know a little bit about history and they’ll understand the importance of participating in the community's life." But what does it take to get today's students excited about civic life and government?

Partisan politics, brinkmanship, periodic threats to shutdown the government over seemingly routine matters — it is easy to see why so many Americans have grown disillusioned with the political system. "If there's too much cynicism, then the Constitution won't work, it can't," Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer tells The Takeaway. A Clinton appointee, who has spent 15 years on the Supreme Court, Breyer warns that a jaded, disfranchised electorate is perilous to a functioning democracy in the U.S. under the Constitution.

Mohammed Adnan al-Bakkour, the attorney general of the central province of Hama in Syria, appeared in a video announcing his resignation on Wednesday in protest of government brutality. But the Syrian government denies al-Bakkour's claims and refuses to accept his resignation, saying he was kidnapped and forced to give the statement. Bloody uprisings started more than five months ago in Syria and Amnesty International says ten times more people have been killed in Syria than Libya. So why aren't we hearing more about it?

Despite plenty of drama and public rhetoric in the battle over the U.S. debt ceiling, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner have not yet reached a compromise. The deadline is looming as is the possibility the country will have to default on its $14.3 trillion of debt. As time marches on, analysts are starting to think seriously about what would happen if no deal can be reached. A vote was expected today in the House on Boehner’s last bid to increase the debt limit and cut spending — but that all fell apart last night when Tea Party Republicans refused to vote for it.

With the deadline quickly approaching for Congress to make a decision on whether or not to raise the debt ceiling, President Obama warned that failing to come to a negotiation could significantly impact the nation's economy and investors' confidence in the United States. Beyond that, some experts say Congress's slowness in developing a plan to face the debt crisis may be symbolic of something more—namely that America is in denial over the gravity of its debt problem. 

Jubilant crowds took to the streets in Yemen over the weekend, celebrating the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Following a rocket attack on his compound on Friday, Saleh was flown to the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh on Saturday to have wood splinters surgically removed from his chest. Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has taken over for the interim, and international leaders are calling on Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. But it's unclear whether the man who ruled the country with an iron fist for 33 years will try to return – and if not, what will happen in the power vacuum.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has decided to knock down the 20-year-old nutritional food pyramid and replace it with a simpler guide to healthy eating — a plate. Today the USDA will unveil how they think your dinner plate should look. But while the portion-divide plate might be a more digestible representation of a good diet, the question is will the message get through to people who really need to change their habits? Tony Geraci, former food service director for Baltimore City Schools and consultant for the Got Breakfast Foundation says that the USDA is addressing many health problems head on.

The chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given a much more dire analysis of the nuclear threat bearing down on Japan than Japanese officials. Gregory Jaczko told Congress yesterday that the damage to at least one reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant was more serious than Tokyo has described, and suggested Americans in that country stay at least 50 miles away — well above the Japanese evacuation area of 12 miles from the plant.

We Americans relish our revolutionary spirit. Our American system of democracy was founded on the cultural belief that we must fight against tyranny. That American-style democracy has served as an example for many emerging nations since the American Revolution. But as we watch revolutions change the sociopolitical landscape of the Middle East, is it fair to ask whether our own system should serve as the best example of a working and efficient system of government?

It’s been fifteen days since the protests in Egypt began and even longer since voices of dissent erupted in Tunisia. Across the Arab world, there have been unrelenting calls for democratic reform. However, some claim that Islam and democracy are too incompatible to function together. Can an Islamic state embrace democracy?

"There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don't know we don't know…"

That’s former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, talking about what we know and don’t know, with regard to weapons of mass destruction. But when it comes to the secretary himself, what do we know?

When Iranians demonstrated against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime in 2009, the U.S. government and media outlets identified the ultimate tool of the dissident masses to be Twitter. When insisting that nothing like the Rwandan genocide could ever happen again, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown explained: “information would come out far more quickly” and “public opinion would grow to the point where action would need to be taken.” All over the world, we see the power that the Internet has in mobilizing the masses. But at the same time, repressive governments are finding ways to launch "denial of service" attacks.

As governors across the country have taken office, we've looked at states where new leaders will face major challenges. For the last in our series on new governors we turn to South Carolina, where Governor Nikki Haley takes office today. Gov. Haley is now the youngest governor in the country, at just 38 years old. Her state faces an $829 million budget shortfall. What other challenges does she face and how will she tackle them?

Gone are the days of the "Washington wife." As the 112th Congress opens, most members of Congress have left their spouses and children at home. For an article released this week, Newsweek spoke with 46 of the 107 new members of Congress and only one of them — Republican Senator Mike Lee, of Utah — is moving to Washington with his family. What does this mean for the culture in Washington?

As we begin the first week of 2011, new and re-elected governors all across the nation will soon be inaugurated. We’ve been highlighting governors that you’re sure to hear about in the coming year. Today we focus on Arizona's Governor Jan Brewer, as she begins her second term. Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez, reporter and host from our member station KJZZ in Phoenix, Ariz., says immigration, unemployment and Medicaid will be the biggest issues in Brewer's next round in office.

Inauguration ceremonies for governors will take place in states across the country over the next few weeks. We’re taking a look at states where new leaders will have to face major deficits, population shifts and rising unemployment as they move into their mansions. How are these new governors going to fare when faced with their states' looming budget problems? Today we look to California to consider Jerry Brown, who served as governor there from 1975 to 1983. Brown returns to the statehouse at the age of 74, older and — perhaps — wiser.

The inauguration season for the nation’s newly elected governors will take place over the next few weeks. Republicans gained six governorships, which means they’ll hold 29 seats, while Democrats will hold 20.  (Lincoln Chafee, in Rhode Island, will be the only independent). The executive control these governors wield in state governments across the country will have a noticeable impact on the balance of power for both parties in the coming years.

Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is one of several politicians spearheading a proposal for re-balancing state and federal power, through what's being called the "repeal amendment." The amendment to the Constitution would, with a vote of 33 states' legislatures, give states the ability to repeal any federal law passed in Congress. Virginia has a long history of states' rights activism — in response to the federally-mandated desegregation of schools in the 1950s, state leaders responded with "massive resistance," choosing to privatize some school districts to prevent integration. As the South commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Confederacy, is this new emphasis on states' rights a step towards secessionism?

Members of the President's deficit commission are debating how to vote on a controversial plan to reduce the nation's budget deficit. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) says she plans to reject the plan put forward by the commission's co-chairs, Erskine Bowles, former Chief of Staff for President Clinton, and Republican former Senator Alan Simpson. Instead, she's offering an alternative plan which would sharply reduce spending at the Pentagon and raise corporate taxes, targeting windfall profits and excessive executive pay.