Americans have a very special message for the federal government: Don’t tread on me.
That’s the takeaway from a new poll from the Pew Research Center in which, for the first time in at least the last two decades, a majority of Americans say Washington actually poses a threat to their “personal rights and freedoms.”
And it’s not just tea party supporters, Republicans and gun owners.
Nearly two-fifths of Democrats (38 percent) say the government is a threat to them personally, as do 45 percent of non-gun owners.
Overall, the percentage of Americans who view the federal government as a threat has increased from 36 percent in May 1995 to 53 percent today. It rose late in the 1990s and then dropped again after 9/11, down to 30 percent.
One conversation that isn’t had often enough is about the uninformed electorate. A prime example are the perennially low approval ratings for Congress, which is largely populated by people who keep getting reelected. It’s like leaving a nail in a piece of wood sticking up and placing it where you always step out of the shower.
It’s not schizophrenic. Democrats just think it will be worse under Republicans. Who instituted the TSA, patriot act, etc etc. To Democrats, Bush seemed like a Nazi.
The things you list passed congress nearly unanimously, with broad support from Democrats. Anyone who believes what you’re saying is either completely insane or deeply ignorant.
Also, the worst of that–such as the TSA being an unaccountable unionized pile of thugs, happened at Dem insistence.
It’s not schizophrenic, it’s a fundamental and willful disconnect.
They may see Big Brother Government as a threat, but they want Big Daddy Government to keep the entitlements flowing.
Shouldn’t have voted for that “free” phone and those entitlements, folks.
Democrats yearn to be the tyranny we refused from King George III… for our own good, for the children, for “social jutsice,” etc.!!
Well, you have to realize that “voter” don’t map very well to “citizens”.
The ratio is probably about 1.1 to 1.
The problem citizens have is that we tolerate that ratio.
Mass Stockholm syndrome ?
Well, it is interesting that Democrats railed against the TSA and Patriot Act when Bush passed it. When Obama renewed the Patriot Act and is expanding the TSA from the airports to bus stations and even allowing road blocks, they cheer. Couldn’t possibly be because they lust for Obama to use it all against their enemies.