The "historical mistrust of government" meme which is put about by explainers of the Teabag movement like David Brooks is hypocritical, meaningless garbage that the media buys into without questioning.
I want to point out to the many grey heads you see at their rallies that the government sure seems to do a good job of sending that Social Security check and paying those Medicare bills, doesn't it? For those of you of advanced age, wouldn't your life in fact be a living nightmare now without the government?
And for those of you affected by the recession caused by Republican mismanagement, why do you take the extended unemployment checks and subsidy for COBRA if you mistrust government so much? And I'll bet more than a few of you work in the defense industry, or maybe government itself. Many of you baggers live in States that are in fact parasitic on the Federal government, subsidized by the rest of us.
And despite missteps like the Detroit attack, the government does seem to be doing a pretty good job of protecting us from terrorist attacks.
What motivates the Teabaggers is nothing more than classic Republican sore-loser-ism, resentment of a black President, particularly one whose educated airs remind one of one's own inferiority, and resentment of Democratic Party achievement.
Nothing Barack Obama does will ever assuage these confused people. We are headed into a very dark place if these people get the upper hand.