Poll: Government viewed as a threat to freedom
At the outset of President Obama's second term, he sits atop a government that a majority of Americans - 53 percent - view as a threat to personal rights and freedoms, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
In March 2010, only 47 percent of respondents felt that the government threatened their freedom. The increase since then has been driven largely by Republicans - in 2010, only 62 percent of conservative Republicans described the government as a threat, but today, 76 percent of conservative Republicans feel threatened by the state.
One interesting crosstab: amid a growing push for stricter gun laws, households with guns feel more threatened than households without: 62 percent of gun-owning households view government as a threat to freedom, while only 45 percent of those without guns agree.
And just 26 percent of respondents said they trust the government to do the right thing always or most of the time; 73 percent said the government can be trusted to do the right thing only sometimes or never.
Still, despite the mostly dismal numbers, only 19 percent of respondents described themselves as "angry" at the federal government. A much more common sentiment - frustration - was voiced by 58 percent. And 20 percent described themselves as basically content with the government.
The Pew poll also delivers a familiar verdict on Congress. (Spoiler alert: people don't like it.)
Only 23 percent of respondents expressed a favorable view of Congress, while 68 percent expressed an unfavorable view. And by a large margin, Americans blame lawmakers themselves, not the system or the institution: 56 percent of respondents said members of Congress are the problem, while only 32 percent said that lawmakers have good intentions but that the political system is broken.
For the survey, Pew interviewed 1,502 adults from January 9-13.
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One look at history will show you what happened to citizens of other countries when their guns were taken away.
That said, let's get to the real point of this discussion.
535 people (Congressmen and Senators + Obama) have complete control over Americans and their lives.
The number of crises Americans now face were created by these 535 people.
The words "serve" and "constituents" are not in their vocabulary.
The goal of our present government is to turn the United States of America into the United Socialist States of America or the United 1% States of America.
Any decisions made by Congress and the Senate have nothing to do with the goals and dreams of their constituents.
535 politicians have given themselves the power to force the citizenry to lie down and roll over.
Americans have been held hostage by "The 535" for more than four years.
They obey the Constitution and the Bill of Rights when it suits them
A majority of Americans want our troops and our money out of Afghanistan now.
Ask yourself "Where are they today".??
Millions of Americans are jobless, homeless, hungry and living in poverty.
Did we really ask the "The 535" to get us into this quagmire.??
I don't think so.!
What we basically are headed for is total control over every aspect of our lives by "The 535" if they are allowed to continue.
Add my name to the list of those who think the government is our enemy.
Do I agree with them.?
"You bet'chum Red Ryder".!!!
We need to band together pro gun people. This is getting out of hand.
Back when 50% or more of respondents "opposed" PPACA, most polls failed to distinguish between those who simply wanted to repeal the law and those who wanted to repeal the law and replace it with Medicare-for-all. Those two groups couldn't have been more different: the first felt "Obamacare" went much too far, and the second felt it didn't go far enough!
In terms of "not trusting the government," some Americans don't trust Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, and other Americans don't trust Mitch McConnell and John Boehner. Those two groups of Americans agree on almost nothing OTHER THAN the untrustworthiness of (some of) our elected leaders, and even there, they disagree about WHO's untrustworthy.
So this is yet ANOTHER poll question that discovers patterns that prove precisely nothing....
Southern whites felt that the federal government was a threat to their freedoms back in 1861...Southern blacks at the time did not share that view...the federal government liberated the African Negro slaves and established their humanity.
Today, Southern whites with guns are primed and ready to secede from the union ...just like their forefathers did back then...again, using the 2nd amendment as cover for their treason. I say, abolish the dubious amendment and round up the guns.
Those who may refuse to "sign the papers" would have their 2nd amendment rights "infringed" upon....and possibly face deportation...lets nip this sedition hysteria in the bud.
The Southern secessionists, in 1861, thought that they too would exercise some perceived 2nd amendment right to take up arms against a tyrannical central government.
The dangerous and dubious amendment should have been abolished during the period in which the absent Southern ideologues were no longer obstructing things in the Congress.
The 2nd amendment enabled and almost invited the Great Secession...nobody connected the dots at the time, or so it seems.
The truth is Hitler, like all despots and tyrants actually do arm their people...not all the people, just their people.
If you are contemplating taking up arms against the US federal government, or sympathize with those who do, you are a would-be domestic terrorist.
Wrong! The browns will be taking over the blacks are still a low minority, and after the browns get Obama to play their game and bring in 18 million more browns, the blacks will be just a wisp in the dust with the wool pulled over their eyes. The black leaders are being played by rubes by the browns, they don't get it.
Apparently, you have no understanding of the 2nd amendment. I suggest you do a little research.
The 2nd amendment says all us lunatics can have a wee gun, so by gosh I better run out and git me one! Or maybe even TEN!!! The more the better!
That's why your country is SCREWED up big time.