talkpolitics | Government

I'm sorry if this would sound like bashing to some, what I'm trying to achieve here is to possibly understand some things, so help me out if you will, and correct me where you think I'm wrong. I used to think it's weird how obsessed Americans are with this "bogeyman called Government" and their desperate desire to keep it as away from their personal affairs as possible - but in fact when you think about it, it's understandable.

The way a completely layman outsider like myself sees it, there are two main factors for this attitude.

1. The historical/cultural one. It's this admirable proneness of the American culture to distrust heavy authority and rely on the skills of the individual to achieve betterment. It's the core principle around which the American society was created, after all. It's inherent to this culture to distrust authority, government, monarchy, or anyone who wields excessive power. It's also this individualistic approach (which, if brought to extremes however, could be equally harmful and counter-productive as extreme collectivism is; because no extreme is ever good). These traits of American society are what makes that country great, and truly an example to emulate. It's what drove its progress beyond any other's, and what stays at the core of the democratic principles which many other societies can only dream of achieving.

2. But beyond that, there's another reason why Americans would distrust government and often hate it in their guts. For an outsider who has seen "the other way" (I live in Sweden), it may not be as apparent as you'd imagine it to be, and it could just seem like a peculiarity and nothing more. But it's as true as the first reason: Americans just haven't seen REAL, working, effective, smart government in ages. What they've seen is decades long growth of excessive authority all over the place, growth for its own sake, a government which has now spread way beyond the US borders and is casting its shade (er, I mean, "interests") overseas and into every corner of the world. Most other societies can feel it either directly or indirectly, it's been affecting them through various alleys, in many possible ways, from cultural, to economic to political. And for that purpose, it had to expand in order to match the new size of its hugely expanded interests. In that sense, it's understandable why many Americans, at a domestic level, would feel that the US governments ever since the world wars have been growing and expanding their powers and prerogatives, and entering territories where no one was used to seeing them.

But enough rambling on my part. I'm aware that "I'm not American, therefore I do not understand" (which however doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about it, right?) I'm prepared to be educated on the matter from people who, I'm sure, know much more on the matter than I do. But yes, that's my impression. My observations tell me that it's not just the inherent individualistic approach that makes Americans distrust authority; it's also the fact that they've been increasingly disgusted by the exponential growth of their government in the first place - no matter its color.

In a way, that's kind of sad. Because, as any resident of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, etc would probably tell you, it's not necessarily the government as such which is the root of all evil, although it could and in fact does often contribute to it if it's ineffective and corrupt. It's the way people (or well organized groups of people, or economic/trade entities with big interests not necessarily matching those of the society at large) are exploiting its functions for their purposes, twisting and perverting its role for their own personal or group gain. The fact of the matter is, a government could be both the source of the worst evils and the biggest achievements of a society. The question is not whether there should be one and whether it should be "big" or "small" (however you measure that). The question really is what kind of government it is, is it doing its job as it is supposed to be, or does it use its citizens as tools. In other words, is it truly "a government by the people, for the people" as the beautiful phrase postulates, or is it something completely different. And I think you'll agree that at the moment, it's been anything but the former. Look Into Your Heart My Son, You Know It To Be True.