There is no such thing as trust anymore at our level of information and 'evil' density. Yes 'evil density' meaning the amount of unemployed outsiders working from a different mission statement than their target. Trust is a relic of small communities and shared goals. As we break down barriers, go global, increase information density - we tempt fate by assuming all new members will function honestly. Or that established members will remain honest
The dynamics of trust in large communities is indeed interesting. I found an interactive explanation about how fragile it can be. http://ncase.me/trust/
Trusting the lawmakers, and elected / appointed agents in general, to do the right thing is another interesting problem. It does not seem completely solved yet, too.
"Law and order" might arguably about trusting such agents; but rule of law is more the opposite. It's about putting those agents in a situation where they tend to enforce rules that they cannot easily manipulate.
You are right that is a hard thing to do, and no society has ever done it perfectly. But western democracies do it surprisingly well, and do so using a playbook of principles that has been understood and written about since the 18th century.
