Why does America fear/distrust it's government?

[GoodOmens]

Remember that much of the current vein of distrust really started with Reagan and the Republican ideology of his time. Previous to that, Americans had tended to have rather positive views of government. Reagan took advantage of the perceived weakness of Carter, especially in relation to the hostage crisis, as well as a prolonged period of stagflation, to promote the idea that government is, at best, a necessary evil, and ideally should be reduced in scope. This was reinforced by common perception of government as wasteful and inefficient, which makes sense in a time of blossoming federal debt.

Also it's important to recall that this country was founded on the basis of revolution against government, and that our foundational documents, the Articles of Confederation and especially the Constitution, place explicit and significant limitations on government power. The colonists had enough of what they saw as overburdening taxes and draconian governance, and were impelled to place these constraints on government. Reasonable people can argue about whether our current situation parallels their situation in any meaningful way, but that vein of independence and drive to self-rule are still critical aspects of the American ethos.

 

[Ekit]

I read somewhere that countries with small gaps between rich and poor tend to trust its governments more than countries with big inequality.

I don't know if that's true or not, but that's the only reason I can think of.

Or perhaps their government has abused its power in the past?

 

[Slythernite]

Because people are ignorant enough to say things like "Keep government out of my Medicare" when Medicare is a government run program...

 

[Imp_Emissary]

We don't trust the government 30% because of good logical reasons backed up by facts, and about 70% because of Fear adds, campaigns, and politicians who basically have jobs based on getting the public more scared than they need to be, and not just scared about government but damn near.....actually....just scared of everything.

You really shouldn't be doubtless on anything though. That makes you more likely to be manipulated. Though you can't be too suspicious because then you can be manipulated just as easily. The best thing to do is be a bit suspicious, but be open minded about it and willing to "work" with it. Find a "middle way" as it were.

 

[Mrrrgggrlllrrrg]

People fear what they dont understand, I mean look at the storm with S. 978. I'm American and I in no way fear the government or even hate the state, I go as far as to say I love law. Yes sometime politicians act like jackasses but hey so do some folks on the internet and in life.


Also the monkeysphere, people really really hate everything outside of their monkeysphere and they treat government as a faceless entity that they dont want to associate with.

 

[JaiDin]

America was founded on the idea that concetrated power was always going to turn out enslaving its population. The original idea was to have separate states that would solve their own problems in their own way with little oversite from a centralized source (federal gov't). Since each state would work on their own, several solutions for the same promblem could be undertaken. The better ones would prosper. People would them move to the states with the better solutions or convince their state to adopt another states solution. So if you disliked the Califorinia high taxes and low employment you could move to Texas with lower taxes and higher employment. If you did not like the Texas restrictions on public assistance you could move to California to take advantage of theirs.
No one would be traped in a one size fits all solution.
A more perfect example of not having federal control of health care would be from this weeks Extra Credit. Alison's insurance company declined her shoulder surgery. The staff of Extra Credit then went to the web and rasied more than enough money for the surgery in less than 6 hours. The surgery can now occur. If this had happened under the federal health care system and the Feds had declined her surgery, there is nothing Alison could do about it. She will not get her shoulder repaired. In fact the staff would face charges of interferring with a government agency and most likely be in jail now. If a doctor would perform the surgery outside of the gov't mandates they would loose their license.
When the gov't takes control of any aspect of your life they take away all other options.

And just to set the record straight.... heath insurance is not the same as health care. Even with no health insurance anyone (including illegal aliens) can walk into an American hospital and recieve health care. Other countries need to understand this because the media makes it seem that we are all dying over here waiting to get treated. Our treatment rate is the fastest in the world. I know from experience. I have several relatives that have had major surgeries and long hospital stays without insurance.
If the gov't takes over everyone will have health insurance but not heath care. The president even said so....instead of a hip replacement maybe grandma can be given a pain pill..... (look it up)

 

[MercurySteam]

snip

I'll just leave this here... it says what needs to be said about it.

Truer words have never been worked into a demotivational poster before.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Because Bush won the election twice, noone knows what's going on in there.

 

[teebeeohh]

Because the american government is elected through a 200 year old process that needs major overhaul in order to actually represent the american people?
At least that's why i wouldn't trust the american government if i was american.
Also for some reason people in the US seem to only see the part where the government takes money from them (taxes) but never the part where the money should be used for the good of the people. Or, you know, tax breaks for the super rich because really, ten houses is just not enough.

 

[JaiDin]

Ben Franklin put the idea of why Americans need unrestricted access to guns simply..... democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.... How much better would the law passed be if the lawmakers took that into consideration?

 

[JordanMillward_1]

I was flicking through the American health service thread, and noticed that the main argument that the main argument against free healthcare was that they didn't want the government controlling it.
Most American's I've talked to also seem to distrust their government, a lot more than Europe does. Your constitution also seems to have been designed from the ground up to prevent the government from having anything more than a fringe affect on anything.

So, why does America distrust it's government so much more than Europe?

I can't really give you an answer but an observation as an Australian is that American people are affraid of a lot of things. It seems that Americans are a lot more paraniod the rest of the world. I have no idea why though. This is a thing that has always bothered me why don't americans have free health care??? It seems completely rediculas to me. And why aren't the gun laws stricter over there. Maybe i don't get it as an Australian but having the right to bear arms in the constitution doesn't make much sense. I'm not saying i hate guns and they should be banned but certain guns aren't that are avilible in america aren't used to hunt animals so why have them. All it takes to defend your self is a pistle. I've side tracted a lot but would some one explain why america is so afraid.

As a Brit, I agree with this. To most of us over here on the other side of the pond, America just looks like it's populated by people who are constantly paranoid about anything and everything, especially any sort of authority

e.g. We don't have guns in the house because most of us will never have someone break in, and even if they did, because we don't have legal guns, illegal guns aren't common, so the most 99% of criminals will have is a knife, or some sort of blunt weapon, which is fairly easy to deal with if you know how, and keep a cricket bat around just in case. It is also down to our differing perception of the police - we pay them tax money to protect us and to ensure criminals are put away, so we don't need to deal with guns, etc, ourselves, where as America seems to perceive cops as just dealing with the aftermath, or coming too late, and so you have to deal out justice to people who break in, or whatever, yourselves.

Plus, you know, you guys complain about tax when it's a fraction of what most of us pay, but still expect public services - it's the eternal "I want, but don't want to pay" problem, and when some governments actually point out that they can't do it without tax money, people start complaining about "THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO STEAL ALL MY MONEY! THEY'RE SOCIALISTS!!!!".

 

[foolish snails]

The United States Is extremely divided. Over the years, a two party system has developed with the more liberal voters siding with the Democrats and the conservative ones siding with the Republicans. With pressure from cultural and regional differences the two sides have drifted further and further apart. Nowadays, there are very few instances of bipartisan legislation that actually means anything.
The country is split fairly evenly, so regardless of which party is in control, there are always millions of people who at best disagree with their philosophy, and at worst think the time is ripe for a revolution via armed militia.
On top of this, the country has always shied away from national control in favor of states' rights. The "tea party movement" is big with this idea. On the issue of government control, you end up with most conservatives believing that the federal government should lessen it's control, and some liberals who believe it cannot be trusted.

All in all, it doesn't exactly make for a very peaceful country.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

In respect to the subject of free healthcare, I was pretty shocked at how they were treating Alison from Extra Credits, the healthcare system in the UK might not be perfect but bloody hell we don't let people become disabled just because they don't have enough money. :<

I guess I just have 'red tinted glasses' from living in the UK but the richest country in the world letting stuff like that happen seems like bizzaro world to me.

A goverment controlled healthcare system is like everyone donating to Alison but in a roundabout way. I really don't see the problem.

 

[viranimus]

Snip

Man you were going so good there, till you veered off course and forgot that the Civil war basically eliminated many of those freedoms states were once allowed, and turned into a complete trainwreck in saying that if there was a government ran health care Allison would go to jail for interfering with the government. Yeah, its not like that.

Simply put we actually trust the government more than we should. Our government is built around the principles of a constant revolution, but we are entirely too complacent and just let the government do whatever they want. If anything we need to mistrust the government even more. These are people who cannot even complete a sentence without having to retract, retcon or outright apologize for what they said and we think we can trust them to do anything they are in charge of?

No I think the reason why you see any mistrust at all is because increasingly the government has been bent on protecting the will of the wealthy and the corporate interest, not of the people. The only thing thats been keeping it from sinking into chaos is inflating a bogus bipartisan war that keeps us all too often distracted or in some cases ignorant from what is going on and what we should be paying attention to.

TL;DR We dont trust our government because it is our job not to trust our government and our government gives us no reason to trust it.

 

[aei_haruko]

I was flicking through the American health service thread, and noticed that the main argument that the main argument against free healthcare was that they didn't want the government controlling it.
Most American's I've talked to also seem to distrust their government, a lot more than Europe does. Your constitution also seems to have been designed from the ground up to prevent the government from having anything more than a fringe affect on anything.

So, why does America distrust it's government so much more than Europe?

We distrust the government so much because we've seen kings and empires fall due to absolute power. The Czars ( spelling?) in russia, the hundred years war, the imperialism, it all stems from governments that are so powerful. We don't want anybody telling us ewha we can and can't do ( unless it's common sense) Now we may not be the best country, but we don't want to have some tyrant come in, kill thousands or millions, then have another one who thinks differently. Idk,

To quote my favorite Author, Mr. George Orwell.
"Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutly"
Idk, that help?

 

[MagicMouse]

The government has power in a very Captailistic society, I don't see a reason not to fear it.

Wrong, so very wrong.

1. America is not a "very capitalistic country". We are moderate. We have aspects of free market and aspects of a government controlled one.

2. In a "Capitalistic Society" the government is Laissez faire, which means it has little or no control.

Seriously, everyone has the right to their own opinions, but not their own facts.
(I'm not trying to be mean here, but maybe take a tip from Twilight and do some more research before posting in a political thread.)

OP: Our entire country was founded on a revolt from a controlling power. Our government was created from the ground up to prevent the people from being controlled by the government again. It only makes sense that our attitude is distrustful.

 

[Calbeck]

So, why does America distrust it's government so much more than Europe?

Because we have, for all intents and purposes, a two-party political system.

This means all major races boil down to only two options. The lack of openings means the two slots are commonly fought over, often passionately, during the primary races.

Those passions then, just as often, are turned on the sole opposing candidate in the main election.

This means that sowing distrust against your opposition is a common --- and often successful --- strategy. And if an individual sometimes cannot be attacked personally, their allegiances are attacked instead. Thus, "conservative/Republican" and "liberal/Democrat" become insults meant to tear down the opponent. All manner of beliefs and ideals (preferably bad ones) are ascribed to whole movements in order to hammer home the message to voters "you can't trust those people, TRUST ME INSTEAD".

We Americans do not distrust our government, per se. We distrust the individuals and organizations which control it, because we have adopted mutually opposing belief systems crafted and honed to make Us right and Them wrong...whoever "Us" and "Them" happen to be for any given election.

 

[Something Amyss]

I was flicking through the American health service thread, and noticed that the main argument that the main argument against free healthcare was that they didn't want the government controlling it.
Most American's I've talked to also seem to distrust their government, a lot more than Europe does. Your constitution also seems to have been designed from the ground up to prevent the government from having anything more than a fringe affect on anything.

So, why does America distrust it's government so much more than Europe?

Would YOU trust anyone voted in by Americans?

I think the big problem is the legacy of paranoia and violence. We fetishise violence (ironically, even our military, which is controlled by DA GUMMIT!) which dates back to a time when we created our country by violently overthrowing the PTB.

Look at how romanticised the outlaw is, and how many people still want their state to secede. Hell, Texas elected a Governor who talks secession.

 

[Jumplion]

The whole fear/distrust to the American government is practically what this country was founded on. We are always afraid that the government will take control of just a little too much power, then BAM, socialist/communist society. That's not to say that it isn't completely justified, to an extent it is good to doubt and distrust government agencies, but it has been taken to such an extreme that people refuse to listen to any sort of solution that seems to just barely hint "socialism".

See, because of all of this yelling and hooting about "socialism" and "communism" and all this load of crap about "government take overs!" I tend to not associate myself with any sort of political ideal. I am not a liberal, I am not a conservative. I am not a libertarian, socialist, communist, marxist, radical ____, anarchist or whatever. I agree with some aspects and I disagree with others. Socialism itself is not an inherently bad ideal, it has some good ideas into it, which in practice may or man not work. Communism can work in some areas, maybe a little bit of anarchy thrown in. I honestly find it disgusting how the big wigs in this country, the liberals, conservatives, and everyone in between, restrict themselves to one ideal and adamantly refuse any other opposing system like ignorant babies wanting their bottle of milk.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

It's not a distrust of the government, it's a distrust of the state, and I tell you it's here in the UK too.

In the case of the USA in particular, there is a ingrained fear of too much control, started by them recovering from the monarchy after independence, and brought into the modern age with the cold war. Generally speaking, they see too much state control as a step towards communism and a dictatorship.

Ha ha ha! You know what's funny about that? The U.S almost became a dictatorship at the beginning. The "powers that be" actually offered Washington the option to become a dictator at the start of making the U.S. government. Thankfully he said hell no! Well actually it went something like; "I didn't help beat King Gorge the 3rd to become Gorge the first."
He also started the 2 term limit idea, and said political partys would only lead to in-fighting in government.