I think many in Europe have a disdain for governments because our countries have experienced tyranny up close and personal, if not experienced it directly. Many

I think many in Europe have a disdain for governments because our countries have experienced tyranny up close and personal, if not experienced it directly. Many European countries have at some point in fairly recent history have had governments that have gone too far against their own people (Spain, Greece, Turkey, Italy spring to mind for example, but also to a lesser extent France, the UK, East Germany, Poland etc.). In many European countries there's been a history of oppression and a state controlled press that spouts untruths, which makes people quite skeptical and untrusting of governments. Indeed, some countries still have this or a notionally free press that's hampered through other means. There's an almost brave new world-like contrast in the US whereby having the illusion of a free press and free democracy has lead many Americans to believe they're free, even though they're supporting things that work against them collectively. I'm not bashing America, there are many free-thinking Americans (on this site especially) and there are many non-free-thinking Europeans, I'm just trying to highlight some of the differences.