Distrust of government isn't baseless cynicism. It's realism.

There are those who always think the worst of people. That's because they are the worst of people.

The greatest bulwark against an overreaching government, as tyrants know, is a religious population. That is because religious people form communities of interest adverse to government control of their lives; religious communities rely on their families and each other rather than an overarching government utilizing force.

What you have is someone with a fundamental distrust of government rolling the dice, cutting taxes and programs, and having it come back to bite him. It shines a spotlight on the fact that many of his budget decisions, in hindsight, look like mistakes.

The Obamacare contraception mandate was never about freedom. It was always about pitting secularism against religion, and using the power of government to sponsor secularism.

The story of Detroit's bankruptcy was simple enough: Allow capitalism to grow the city, campaign against income inequality, tax the job creators until they flee, increase government spending in order to boost employment, promise generous pension plans to keep people voting for failure. Rinse, wash and repeat.