i never believed Govt was “inherently good”... although some government is necessary and sometimes people can do some good things through their government as the vehicle for proper (constitutional) organized social efforts
however,
government is certainly not “inherently good” ... at best, government is just a reflection of the citizens who create it
and, alas, a reflection of the liars and thieves (and ego-maniacal jerks) who seem to be so strongly attracted into it
such as, many would say, Senator Reid (you know, the guy who won’t pass a budget so we would have a chance of finding out where the last $6 Trillion of extra spending went)
That’s one of the dichotomies that you’ll encounter between the left and the right.
The left has an inherent trust in government always doing the right thing and having benevolent motives toward society.
Conservatives, including the founders, inherently distrusted government, more specifically government power, and the founding documents reflected this distrust by limiting the powers of the government.