Polling shows that since the 1950s Americans' trust in government
has fallen dramatically to historically low levels. In At War with
Government, the political scientists Amy Fried and Douglas B.
Harris reveal that this trend is no accident. Although distrust of
authority is deeply rooted in American culture, it is fueled by
conservative elites who benefit from it. Since the postwar era
conservative leaders have deliberately and strategically undermined
faith in the political system for partisan aims. Fried and Harris
detail how conservatives have sown distrust to build organizations,
win elections, shift power toward institutions that they control,
and secure policy victories. They trace this strategy from the
Nixon and Reagan years through Gingrich's Contract with America,
the Tea Party, and Donald Trump's rise and presidency.
Conservatives have promoted a political identity opposed to
domestic state action, used racial messages to undermine unity, and
cultivated cynicism to build and bolster coalitions. Once in power,
they have defunded public services unless they help their
constituencies and rolled back regulations, perversely proving the
failure of government. Fried and Harris draw on archival sources to
document how conservative elites have strategized behind the
scenes. With a powerful diagnosis of our polarized era, At War with
Government also proposes how we might rebuild trust in government
by countering the strategies conservatives have used to weaken it.
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