Why Do Americans Fear Government So Much?

Healthy skepticism toward public institutions can be welcome in a civil society that allows for conversation and debate power structures. But, the last few decades of anti-government sentiment have proven to truly degrade trust in government across the board, culminating in President Donald Trump’s four years of his administration that attacked “root and branch” the legitimacy of the administrative state and government itself. 

Dr. Lisa Parshall is a Professor of Political Science at Daemen University. She’s one of the authors of the book, Directing the Whirlwind: The Trump Presidency and the Deconstruction of the Administrative State, now in its second edition. In the first part of a two-part discussion, she joined the podcast to discuss how the Jan. 6 insurrection affected the public’s view of government and the different approaches to administrative power.

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