Daily Kos: Reagan ‘Convinced Americans That Democratic Government Was Un-American’

Newsbusters ^ | December 21, 2014 | Tom Johnson

[Maceman]

In the 1960s and ‘70s, it was fairly common for leftists to describe the U.S. as not just misguided or flawed, but sick. On Sunday, Daily Kos’s Mark Sumner trotted out that metaphor when he asserted that President Reagan “introduced [an] infection” to this country, one which caused Americans to believe that “to save our nation, we have to treat our government like a threat.”

Since the Reagan years, Sumner claimed, “conservatism has been more than just an argument about tax rates and regulat[ions]. It's become an open and honest war on the whole idea of governing. By opening a gap between ‘the people’ and ‘the republic,’ the intentional murder of the American government was turned into something that could be supported as ‘patriotism.’"

[BuffaloJack]

“Democratic Government” is Un-American. America is a Republic, so “Republican Government” is American.
Karl Marx said that democracy is the first step towards communism.

[mjp]

He convinced Americans that democratic big government was un-American.

[Monorprise]

The author seems to have a want for a history lesson. Americans have never trusted government, not sense even before the American Revolution.

Our founders and almost every generation since with a few notable exceptions were filled with distrust for the inevitable dysfunction, corruption, and disaster that is big Government.

[Pollster1]

Limited government is the best possible compromise between freedom and anarchy. Today’s government seems to have forgotten about freedom. Do we really want a government powerful enough to tell us how much water our toilets can flush, what kind of light bulbs we can use, and what unwanted coverages have to be in our medical insurance? Do we really want a government that spends $17T of our children’s and grandchildren’s money on fraud, waste, abuse, and corrupt bonuses for those with connections?