I don't know who did what to whom at the White House, the CIA, the vice president's office, Rep. Tom DeLay's campaign or the Defense Department's Abu Ghraib command. But from years of observing the corporate world, I do know this: If you have contempt for your place of work, then you feel free to trash it, subvert it, undermine it, weaken it.

Contempt often starts at the top, when bosses believe their organizations are mere instruments of their own desires, to be exploited for themselves and their buddies. Cynicism spreads, reducing morale, depressing performance and repelling the best people. A self-fulfilling prophecy is set in motion, whereby initial contempt is justified by subsequent failures — a classic losing streak.

Abuse of the power of office seems to be occurring more frequently in Washington. Of course, accusations are not proof, and indictments not convictions — Americans are innocent until proved guilty. But the growing pile of indictments is starting to stink.

Some say the smell is a few isolated rotten apples spoiling the barrel. That was said about the torturers at Abu Ghraib. That's what U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, argues about indicted former Cheney chief of staff "Scooter" Libby. Cornyn told ABC's "This Week" that "any alleged wrongdoing is really confined to a single individual."

Nice try, but not credible. The rot appears in the barrel itself, emanating from extreme right-wing ideology that holds government in contempt, then portrays it as ripping off taxpayers without providing value.

Contempt for government leads to crony appointments, treating top posts as perks with no substance. Soon-forgotten Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers is one example; former FEMA head Michael Brown is another that will go down in history. When FEMA, a once-effective agency with pride in its mission and professionalism in its performance, was handed to a crony, it withered — and failed the public in the Katrina disaster.

Contempt means feeling free to subvert the instruments of government to one's own ends — such as waging war on a flimsy, shifting pretext. Contempt means not having to reach high standards. According to Associated Press reports, the Bush administration has missed dozens of post-911 congressional deadlines for developing ways to protect airlines, ships and railways from terrorists. Even if Congress' demands are excessive, an administration that campaigned for re-election on a promise to make Americans safer has failed to live up to its own highest priority.

Contempt makes it hard to attract the best people to public service and demoralizes talented professionals already there. The federal government already has a recruitment problem. How many bright college graduates will sign up for the CIA after suggestions of pressure to distort intelligence, capped by the outing of Valerie Plame?

When those who trash their offices by crossing ethical or legal lines are exposed and respond with public relations campaigns to erase stains from the rot without addressing its causes, contempt is reinforced.

Some observers compare President Bush's current problem of restoring public trust to that of former President Clinton, who recovered from personal scandal and impeachment hearings to leave office with high approval. But there's a big difference. People trusted Clinton's belief in the positive power of government. A signature initiative, Reinventing Government, sought both efficiency and high quality, demonstrating that respect for one's workplace allows criticism in the name of improvement. When leaders act to strengthen their organization, not sabotage it, others emulate that respect.

Will Americans hear from those who respect government today? Who is arguing the positive case — that government carries out meaningful and beneficial functions, that public service can be a high calling, that government services can be (and should be) provided with impartial professionalism? Democratic Party leaders seem too busy gloating over the latest scandal to counter the right wing's contempt for government by articulating a compelling alternative.

As long as anti-government rhetoric goes unchallenged and voices of respect are silent, Americans will never get good government back. The barrel will continue to rot from within, spoiling even the best apples.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter is a Harvard Business School professor and author of "Confidence." Reach her at rkanter@hbs.edu. She wrote this commentary for the Miami Herald.