Research in to the actions of George Bush. Understanding of the two main ideologies which are oppressive in one way or the other. My US history class and watchng far too many You Tube Videos talking ab out the shit our government has pulled.
We must survive, all of us. The blood of a human for me, a cooked bird for you. Where is the difference?I never "trusted" them in the first place, so I could never have started distrusting them.
As it is said: Humanity is evil, and the goverment is just one large pile of humanity constructed into a metaphorical machine for doing special tasks.
There is no reason to trust this machine, but there is a good reason to trust that this machine could achieve results.
I don't hate the US government. I just don't trust them to do anything not spelled out in the US Constitution.
You want government run health care? I have 45+ years of the failures called Medicare and Medicaid backing me up showing how incompetent the US Federal Government can do a venture of that kind.
I am mixed. I do not ever trust their motives for many of their actions. I definetly do not trust them when it comes to businesses and money. As in their rather chummy relations with big business corporations and banks. I do not trust them to truly use the U.S. Military for what it is really for. I follow the line of thought of Smedley Butler on this stance.
My first taste of distrust was a combination of my first year in the U.S. Marines, history courses, and the 3 subsequent years of on and off study after that. It has gotten to the point where I think the system is effectively fucked no matter which side of the fence we choose short of a sudden and dramatic change.
Who watches the watchmen?Clinton and Lewinsky were my first big exposure to politics and media circusing. Needless to say, weaseling and perjury was not a reassuring first impression of the field.
Well, other than All That and the Ross Perot skits.
The Bush tax cuts.
That's when I realized, no, the GOP isn't stupid (mostly), it's bought.
It took a lot of Daily Show and The Young Turks episodes to help me along though.
edited 3rd Apr '11 6:38:52 PM by CommandoDude
I don't. I work for it.
I mean I don't trust it, but I don't really distrust it either. I just sort of understand that it's a machine ran by people. People who are fallible, and untrustworthy, and stupid as hell. But for every one of those guys in the government, there's another who genuinely wants to help, does their best, and is someone I would place my trust in.
It is what it is. I don't trust the figureheads much, but I understand the position of most of the cogs in the machine, seeing as I am one.

It's no secret that the entire internet hates the U.S. government for some reason or another. For most nations a constitutional republic would be viewed as a laudable goal. Here it's a leaden shackle around our necks.
So I'm curious, what was your breaking point? Fundies, marijuana, widespread surveillance, X-files. What?
I'm a skeptical squirrel