As such, mistrust of social systems and government is deeply ingrained in US culture. Contrast this to Scandinavian countries or European countries who fundamentally trust the government.
The problem, IMO, isn't that we set up a system of distrust, but rather that we allowed the checks and balances (originally placed in the system to keep balance) to erode over time so now we have a negative feedback loop where our distrust of our own government is growing ever stronger, but for pretty good reasons (regardless of which "side of the aisle" you are on) -- unrestricted lobbying, mostly unrestricted campaign finance and lack of meaningful term limits on too much of our government increases power imbalance and thus distrust with no counterbalances to allow people to take back any power from the system that is now spinning out of control.
At this point the game is basically lost, I think, and we're just stuck sitting back and watching what happens as the system collapses over the next couple of decades. Hopefully it'll go a bit better than that "Collapse Gap" analysis suggested it will.
I agree with that idea, but guess who also agrees ... billionaire Warren Buffet.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-...
Quote: "My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice."
And even among billionaires, Buffet isn't alone. Buffet, Bill Gates and other billionaires have agreed to leave most of their fortunes to charitable foundations instead of allowing their children to inherit it.
> who thinks taxes (on ... corporations) need to go up quite a bit...
Many US-based organizations are trying to establish HQ in places like England and Ireland b/c of tax advantages. e.g., Pfizer tried recently and AbbVie (another pharmaceutical giant) is in the process of doing so.