Good News: 27% Of Americans Say Government Is Their 'Enemy,' Not Their 'Friend'

Chris Menahan | InformationLiberation
Nov. 24, 2015

We're making progress.

Twenty-seven percent of Americans now recognize their government overlords are not their friends but their enemies, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center.

Asked to place themselves on a scale from 1 to 10 “where ‘1’ means you think the federal government is your enemy and ‘10’ means you think the federal government is your friend,” 27% of registered voters say they think of government as an enemy (1-4), up 8 points since 1996. The share of voters who place themselves in the middle of the scale (5-6) has declined from 44% to 39%. A third (33%) currently say they view the government as a friend (7-10), little changed from 36% in 1996.

Today, 35% of Republican voters view the federal government as an enemy, up from 22% in 1996. Similarly, 34% of independents take this view, a 13-point increase from 19 years ago.

In 1996, Republicans were somewhat more likely to view the government as a friend (34%) than as an enemy (22%). Today, that balance of opinion is reversed: 21% say they see it as a friend, while 35% see it as an enemy.

Half of all Democrats (50%) see the government as a friend; only 12% see the government as an enemy. These views are similar to opinions among Democrats in 1996.

I have a suggestion for those who think the government is their friend: try disobeying what your "friend" orders you to do, for example when he tells you to hand over your money to him next April 15th, and see what a great and understanding "friend" he is.

Every action the government takes, every one of some 800,000 regulations on the books, every one of some 100,000 laws, are not enforced through the helping hand of a friend.

They're not enforced through suggestion, or social pressure: they're enforced through violence and threats of violence.

No one pays their taxes for kicks, they do it because if they didn't they'd be thrown into a government cage or shot if they sufficiently resist, same goes for every one of the endless regulations and laws on the books.

That's why there is a constant stream of police brutality stories every day, cops are tasked with enforcing innumerable, insanely stupid, anti-human laws, from the drug war to jaywalking to riding your bike without a helmet.

No friend would throw their pal into a cage for jaywalking, or riding their bike without a helmet, or even using drugs.

Friends don't lord over one another bossing each other around, that's how enemies treat each other.

The government is not your friend, it's a gang of thieves writ large.
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Chris Menahan runs the alternative news site InformationLiberation.com, you can read more of his articles here. Follow @infolibnews on twitter.