# Why do people feel the government is tyrannical? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 20, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776 "2010-04-20T18:09:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776/81 "2010-04-27T20:49:02Z")
When I decide to try out a new restaurant, I like to know how the food is _there_, not how bad the food is at _other_ restaurants. Why do Libertarians start out with a condemnation of whoever is in power, instead of talking about what positive things their candidate has to offer? As far as I am concerned, embracing a pig in a poke will get you exactly what you deserve nine times out of ten. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776/82 "2010-05-07T15:11:29Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > That brings to mind that the current conservative disenchantment with government dates to the Warren court’s several decisions that many conservatives felt overturned the will of the majority by judicial fiat. Since _ **Marbury v. Madison** _ dates from after the ratification of the Constitution, I often wonder if the original framers would have placed bounds on the Supreme Court if they had forseen the impact of judicial review. Like maybe authorizing Congress to enact by a very large supermajority (90%?) statute law overturning Supreme Court rulings. You can amend the constitution. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776/83 "2010-05-07T15:50:27Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > So.. the argument shifts from “It’s absurd to think the government is being tyrannical,” to “It’s absurd to think the Obama administration is being tyrannical like the Bush administration was.” 2006: “Impeach Bush for the tyrannical things that he’s done!” 2010: “The government is tyrannical for the things that it \*might \*do!” ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776/84 "2010-05-07T17:51:44Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > But we don’t. Case in point: Obamacare. More than half the people in the country were against it, but the government shoved it up our butts anyway. You realize taht a lot of those people were people like me who have read the white papers on the subject of health care reform and knew that the best way to cut costs and improve the overall level of health care in society was a single payer system. We went from overpriced ehalth care for the rich to slightly less overprice health care for everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776/85 "2010-05-07T18:03:17Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Yes, threats to Obama, as president. But your second cite is not consistent in whether it is since the inauguration or comparing it to under Bush. The first article was clear that the 400% number was “since his [Obama’s] inauguration”. > No. “Since his inauguration” means he has already been inaugurated, and he is president. However, I’d be very surprised if they were talking about the specific day of the inauguration, rather than the time period around his inauguration. Talking about the number of threats on any one day, especially inauguration day, wouldn’t make much sense from a statistical standpoint. I dunno. I think it makes more sense to read it the other way. Death threats against the president have quadrupled since Obama took office. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776/86 "2010-05-07T18:22:42Z")
Everyone wants to be the first to predict the onset of Dramatic Events. If only there had been someone like Glenn Beck in 1930’s Germany. Well, we’re not going to make that same mistake twice. If the government is going to become tyrannical, you heard it from me first. So my predictions have to be more dire and dramatic than the next guy. So we try to outdo each other to see who extrapolate actual events into the most attention-getting scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776/87 "2010-05-07T19:04:27Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Why do people feel the government is tyrannical? [Scenes From The Drug War](http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/05/scenes-from-the-drug-war.html) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776/88 "2010-05-07T21:36:08Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > You can amend the constitution. Which makes me wonder why no constitutional amendments have been passed recently addressing any supreme court rulings. Other than calls for an amendment criminalizing abortion, I haven’t heard of much activism on other controversial court decisions. In any case, my point was whether there ought to be some way of modifying the effect of court rulings that’s easier than a full constitutional amendment. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776/89 "2010-05-07T21:38:07Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Which makes me wonder why no constitutional amendments have been passed recently addressing any supreme court rulings. Other than calls for an amendment criminalizing abortion, I haven’t heard of much activism on other controversial court decisions. In any case, my point was whether there ought to be some way of modifying the effect of court rulings that’s easier than a full constitutional amendment. Can’t congress make new law, that supercedes and replaces the old law in question? Presuming that problem isn’t that the desired result is unconstitutional of course. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776/90 "2010-05-08T00:51:38Z")
The _real_ problem is that these dingbats have a weak grasp of the meaning of the word “tyranny”. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776/91 "2010-05-08T02:42:34Z")
The system of “checks and balances” refers to the responsibilities of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. They check and balance each other. There is nothing in the Gospel of the Forefathers that said that the process has to be inefficient. > [@](#): > > **Bricker** : So.. the argument shifts from “It’s absurd to think the government is being tyrannical,” to “It’s absurd to think the Obama administration is being tyrannical like the Bush administration was.” I don’t know that the argument has shifted in that direction. But if it does, I will state that I think that Bush was driven by a group of neo-con tyrants who manipulated Bush’s own psychological hangups toward certain maniacal goals such as broadening the powers of the Executive Office, filling judicial positions with political appointments, and exploiting the vast oil supply in the Middle East. I do not think that Bush and his comb-kicking neo-cons are typical of Republicans. Nor are the tea-baggers. **Do you think that Obama is a tyrant, Bricker?** As for why some people think that the government is a tyrant, there are lots of different reasons. Why don’t we have an Equal Rights Amendment that guarantees that there will not be discrimination based on gender? What business is it of the government who anyone chooses to marry and live with? Why aren’t women who qualify allowed to serve in combat? What about the laws of Eminent Domain? Why should they allow a religious college to have the privilege of buying up private property that a homeowner does not wish to sell? How are our civil rights so easily taken from us by Congress? ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776/92 "2010-05-08T03:49:36Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > What about the laws of Eminent Domain? Why should they allow a religious college to have the privilege of buying up private property that a homeowner does not wish to sell? Cite? I’ve not heard of that example…and I’m curious. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776/93 "2010-05-10T17:31:11Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Which makes me wonder why no constitutional amendments have been passed recently addressing any supreme court rulings. Other than calls for an amendment criminalizing abortion, I haven’t heard of much activism on other controversial court decisions. In any case, my point was whether there ought to be some way of modifying the effect of court rulings that’s easier than a full constitutional amendment. Well amendments only take 2/3 of each house and 3/4 of the states. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776/94 "2010-05-10T19:40:46Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > As for why some people think that the government is a tyrant, there are lots of different reasons. Why don’t we have an Equal Rights Amendment that guarantees that there will not be discrimination based on gender? The Twenty-first amendment, enacted in 1933, repealed Prohibition; since then one amendment of consequence has passed, the Twenty-fourth banning poll taxes. All the others since 1933 have been technicalities like the voting age and presidential term limits. IMHO, it’s because the Supreme Court started getting extremely inventive in interpreting the Constitution, beginning in the Roosevelt administration and also in the civil rights era. So one the one hand, broad interpretations of federal power have removed much of the need for formal amendments. And on the other hand, people are now afraid that any amendment that speaks in generalities could eventually get used as a constitutional mandate for a limitless progressive agenda. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-government-is-tyrannical/536776.md?page=4)