What group are Americans fearful of today? Is this a reasonable fear?

The news of recent years seems to indicate that many Americans are fearful of powerful congressmen.  In his new book, In Search of Self-Governance, Scott Rasmussen observes that most Americans

have come to believe that the political system is broken, that most politicians are corrupt, and that neither major political party has the answers.

Rasmussen adds that the gap between the people who want to govern themselves and the politicians who want to rule them may be as large today as the gap between the colonies and England in the 1700s.

In a Fox News survey of just this month (March,2010), American voters expressed deep anxiety about the fragility of the economy of the United States as they face uncertainty about jobs and "the public sector spending."   Only 30% expressed confidence in the size and role of the government, while 65% (05% were noncommital) say that the government is now "too big" and "is restricting personal freedoms."

With the passage of The Patriot Act and the controversial issues about the health care bill, there are people who feel that their fears are reasonable about "personal freedoms."  Certainly, their anxieties about the economy seem fairly reasonable. Unemployment is very high in the majority of states, schools have been forced to close in cities such as Kansas City, MO, and Detroit, MI.  Some states in the U.S. are even insolvent; California's financial situation is dire.  The National Debt is "astronomical" and people worry that Congress and the President will not, and cannot, fix these problems.