Why does America fear/distrust it's government?

[Da Orky Man]

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?

And, for comparison, I live it the UK, and we generally get on ok.

 

[Serving UpSmiles]

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

 

[TStormer]

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.

Aside from the fact that if left unchecked, the state would like nothing more then to expand into a nice Orwellian bureaucracy, it is a machine designed to be efficient, but sometimes forgets that people are involved.

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.

My personal opinion is that the state is important and should be large, but still restrained. The state can be a vicious monster if left unchecked, but at least it's designed with the people in mind unlike the alternative, private industry, which is only interested in grabbing as much money as possible, which is not a healthy ethos for the most powerful people in any country.

 

[Ashcrexl]

I distrust any sort of government. These are people who are sociopathic enough to actively seek power and were ruthless enough to actually obtain it. How the hell am I supposed to trust them?

 

[Woodsey]

Well I imagine the Constitution's set up that way given how Parliament treated the colonies when they first arrived, and the power they tried to exert over them (taxes and stuff, but with no representation or say in how the government was run).

Its not bad to be wary of the government, but it does mean that a lot of people have no grasp on the concept of Socialism (Obama is not a socialist - that is not a matter of opinion), or can see that giving a little more "control" will do them the world of good (health care).

You also end up with incredibly blown-out-of-proportion views like this:

I distrust any sort of government. These are people who are sociopathic enough to actively seek power and were ruthless enough to actually obtain it. How the hell am I supposed to trust them?

 

[Arctarus'sCookie]

I dislike the American government because of the fact that Obama's healthcare plan is being ignored because it is "socialist". So only the rich and powerful can get healed without having to sell everything they own, while the common folk (i.e. me and everyone else who wasn't born with the silver spoon of Jesus Christ shoved up their ass) have to sacrifice an arm and a leg to fix an arm and a leg.

 

[Dense_Electric]

It's a measure of keeping the government in line. Despite my constant claims to the contrary, people in the United States enjoy more personal freedom than really any other country on Earth (except for gay marriage for some stupid reason, but we're working on that one). The simple reason being we question our government on a daily basis.

We value our personal freedom above all else. It's the reason we don't have laws preventing the sale of M-rated games or R-rated films to minors. It's the reason we're allowed to purchase firearms for personal use. It's the reason we're free to choose what healthcare system works for us, rather than being automatically shoehorned into a government option (as I said in the other topic, I don't mind a government healthcare system so long as it isn't mandatory). It's not that we fear our government, it's that we don't want other people telling us how to live our lives.

Obama is not a socialist

Politically, no, that's propaganda from the far right (though I may call him "pseudo-socialist" in the sense that he does tend to favor stricter government control). However, I think his personal philosophies are more in line with socialist thinking than his public political image lets on, whatever he says.

 

[infohippie]

Because people are convinced the government controlling healthcare would somehow "fuck it up". Even ignoring the fact that the health care is fucked up as is, I don't understand their line of thought.

That's because conservative groups in the US have spent decades convincing the population that government is always incompetent. (And when they achieve power, they manage to prove themselves right even when they don't mean to).

 

[Dense_Electric]

That's because conservative groups in the US have spent decades convincing the population that government is always incompetent.

Well, if the current political climate has shown us anything, it's that they're really not wrong in that regard...

 

[Scalli]

I don't think people are supposed to trust their governments, to be honest. I'm pretty sure some DWG had a famous quote about that (not just the one from V for Vendetta, but a legit one). Not saying everyone should have the tinfoil hats on, but a healthy dose of scrutiny is good.

It's certainly not much different here in Canada; people automatically scoff when you even mention the government. Cynicism is reflex. I think it's probably like that everywhere in the western world.

Sure, the whole healthcare thing in the states has kind of brought the issue to extremes, but I think that a LOT of that is played up, by both the 'concerned parties' and the news media - for attention and ratings respectively.

 

[Bobbity]

Sorry, this kind of turned into a rant.

It's this attitude of "Screw the government" that most Americans seem to have. They object to paying even reasonable taxes, despise their government, whoever's in charge, and fight every single piece of legislation like their lives rely upon it.

To an extent, they have a point, in that the system is so ridden by corruption and incompetence, but then the problem becomes the society surrounding the government, and the people that are running it.

Americans ***** that they don't want the government running things, but the fact is that the government is the sole organization in their entire fucking country with an interest in actually helping them, as opposed to screwing them for all that they're worth.

I mean, if you don't want healthcare in the hands of the government, then no one at all is going to take it up. Look, fuck the people who are too short-sighted to see this. I love America, but it can really drive me up the wall sometimes.

Not everything the government does is done to hurt you. No, the government does not exist specifically to screw you. In fact, it's about the only thing out there trying to help you.

Okay, I'm riled up now, so one more thing. What the FUCK is with your tax rate? You guys wonder why your economy is fucked? The highest tax bracket kicks in at over a third of a million dollars, and it's only thirty five fucking per cent! You wonder why your economy is fucked? It's because you're fucking it! The media feeds your population a load of horseshit, and they swallow it whole.

Please, America. I love you guys, but stop bitching about your government, and work with them, for once. They are, theoretically at least, you, and yet you fight them every step of the way.

No, blind obedience to whatever the government wants is not good, but neither is fighting them every step of the way. There is a middle ground, believe it or not.

 

[Da Orky Man]

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.

Aside from the fact that if left unchecked, the state would like nothing more then to expand into a nice Orwellian bureaucracy, it is a machine designed to be efficient, but sometimes forgets that people are involved.

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.

My personal opinion is that the state is important and should be large, but still restrained. The state can be a vicious monster if left unchecked, but at least it's designed with the people in mind unlike the alternative, private industry, which is only interested in grabbing as much money as possible, which is not a healthy ethos for the most powerful people in any country.

Given that I live in the UK, America does seem to foster much more distrust of it's government than we ever do of Parliament.
Otherwise, that's a very good explanation.

 

[SouthpawFencer]

Warning: Wall of Text, but I didn't think that an answer that could fit onto a bumper sticker would do this question justice.

American distrust of the government is not only very traditional, but it often comes down to several different reasons:

First, governments generally never give up power once they gain it. So every time you consent to give a government more power, it's out of the hands of the citizens and in the hands of government officials FOREVER. And this isn't just an attitude by civil libertarians and conservatives - ask the average American liberal what their opinion is of the PATRIOT Act is, or how they feel about the DEA raiding Medical Marijuana dispensaries in California.

Secondly, government programs tend to be extremely inefficient and inept with little to no accountability. I don't know how common the phrase "close enough for government work" is outside the USA, but it's used VERY often where I live. In other words, if the government and private sector both attempt to do something, the government will generally spend a lot more, and produce an inferior result to the private sector attempt.

Third (although this can arguably be mixed into the second reason), government attempts at solution to problems tend to make things far worse than before. Examples: the War on Drugs (result: drugs are just as available as ever, and the US has a higher percentage of it's residents in prison than any other industrialized nation in the world), the War on Poverty (the poverty rate is with a percentage point of what it was BEFORE this program), the TSA (routinely fails to find weapons and explosives smuggled through by testers despite diligently feeling up six-year-olds). Also, the Stimulus Package, which pissed over a trillion dollars down the toilet for no discernable return on investment, and certainly didn't keep the unemployment rates below the levels that the stimulus supporters promised if the bill was passed. Naturally, those same supporters are now claiming that it failed because we didn't spend ENOUGH money.

There are also conspiracy theorists that believe that the government is secretly engineering situations to allow them to deliberately trample on the rights of citizens. I tend to chalk off most of the given examples of "vast, secret conspiracies" as being due to ineptitude rather than a clever plan. If the government HAD tried to secretly blow up the World Trade Center, the end result most likely would have been two broken windows and slightly charred pigeon, at a two billion dollar cost.

I don't think most Americans, or even just ones to the right of center, are necessarily opposed to reforming the Health Care System. A lot of them just feel that the government (or at least the FEDERAL government) getting MORE involved will somehow make it even WORSE.

 

[Scout Tactical]

I dislike the American government because of the fact that Obama's healthcare plan is being ignored because it is "socialist". So only the rich and powerful can get healed without having to sell everything they own, while the common folk (i.e. me and everyone else who wasn't born with the silver spoon of Jesus Christ shoved up their ass) have to sacrifice an arm and a leg to fix an arm and a leg.

Do you actually know what the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act does?

I'll give you a hint. It doesn't actually lower the cost of health care at all. It reforms the way insurance can be handled, increases drug rebates for Medicaid slightly, and puts a tax on high-end insurance and indoor tanning.

I swear, it's like you were too busy mocking Christians to actually pay attention to one of the most important healthcare bills of our time.

 

[Arluza]

Because the government is controled by those who make lots of money. Insurance makes HUGE money, and the insurance companies have put out bad info about a free health care system. and most Americans are stupid enough to buy into that.

 

[Worgen]

because its a democrat who did it, the right wing in this country is really organized behind the idea that everything democrats do is bad and should be stopped, they get off on being ideological shits

 

[spacewalker]

There is also a fair bit of corruption thet helps fuel that mistrust

 

[Tsaba]

snip

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