Brian M Downing
Americans see themselves as independent, self-reliant, and opposed to intrusive forces. That was essential to the merchants, craftsmen, planters, and farmers who opposed British taxation and Church of England expansion. “Don’t tread on me” was embroidered into flags and myths. The principle surfaced during the Whiskey Rebellion, the Civil War, and even the New Deal.
The upheavals of the 1960s stemmed in part from resistance to standardization and conformity imposed by government, industry, and schools. Concern has shifted rightward since then. Opposition to government intrusiveness is central to the populism of our day, though with a decided animus and obscure backing.
Businesses large and small work under thousands of laws and directives passed by lawmakers and detailed in weighty codexes. They cover matters including building construction, workplace safety, hiring, promotions, land use, water purity, marshlands, and so on. They distract from doing business and subtract from the bottom line. And of course there are taxes to contend with. Better to chop taxes and let market forces handle things.
Anti-government sentiment is strong outside business corridors. It’s potent in the general public. Gun control is a deeply contentious issue that attracts and intensifies animus toward government. Private ownership is widely deemed critical to national independence and protection from criminals and despots. It’s a sacred Constitutional right yet Washington’s been chipping away at it for decades. The issue is a potential flashpoint. One side is more determined – and better equipped as well.
In 1964 Richard Hofstadter identified a “paranoid style” running through American politics. Fears of Masons, Catholics, and Communism came and went. He also identified an emerging pseudo-conservatism opposed to cosmopolitanism, intellectuals, and the erosion of traditional values. A template lives on. Reagan was first elected amid a deep but vague sense of malaise brought on by turmoil from Vietnam, Watergate and other scandals, soaring inflation, the Iranian Embassy crisis, and a sense of lost national prestige. Reagan argued that our malaise was due to government failure and intrusion. The connections weren’t clear but the argument clicked and he won in a landslide.
Anti-government sentiment today goes beyond noting failure and intrusion. It claims to expose evil and conspiracy: a deep state, the great replacement, the mainstream media, vaccination proponents, secularists, unpatriotic politicians, and meddlesome billionaires, often foreign ones. Most operatives find the ideas outlandish, but useful. Paradoxically, von Hayek, Goldwater, and Reagan would be dismayed by them.
©2024 Brian M Downing
Brian M Downing is a national security analyst who’s written for outlets across the political spectrum. He studied at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, and did post-graduate work at Harvard’s Center for International Affairs. Thanks as ever to fellow Hoya Susan Ganosellis.