The data disagrees with your first statement. Certainly true since the early 2000s, but we don’t have to be fatalistic about this.
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/09/14/americans-vi...
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/09/14/americans-vi...
In 1955 when that trust was super high, everyone could have trusted the government to stay out of their lives and to only interfere if we had to go to war. That’s very different from people wanting the federal government to take over healthcare, energy, housing, etc.
Of course health care was much cheaper when the doctor basically had no health care to give.
A medicine man 2000 years ago was even cheaper, practically free.