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Comment by dasil003 | Hacker News Reader

I think it's sad how a default distrust of the government gets one painted as a crazy gun-toting militiaman, or a tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist. These are after all, the people who founded America, not out of paranoia, but from deep reflection on the nature and history of government.

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Default distrust everyone is one thing. But when you single out government (as if the "government" where a thing and not just comprised of people) and not recognizing government is a symptom of more fundamental causes that I'm gonna "default distrust you as a crazy at best, or ignorant at worst".

I think you are oversimplifying things.

People comprising the government are not "just" people.

They may have personality traits that compel them to seek out high-power positions.

They may suppress their natural good intentions because where they work, "things are done that way and everybody does that". After several years of such cognitive dissonance, they may just completely change personality-wise.

&c., &c.

What a ridiculous straw man you've thrown up here. Government isn't singled out because it is somehow distinct from the people. It's singled out because it has defacto power over my person in a way no individual does. Furthermore, that power is recursive, which is why you see so few whistleblowers actually speaking about unconstitutional and illegal action behind closed doors. We can argue about the causes all day, but the dangers of government overreach are far more sinister than anything an individual actor can do.

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