The Republicans pushed this idea so hard in the 80s. But it's so telling that government is only not here to help when the Republicans are in power. They keep repeating this cycle: they get into power by unscrupulous means, then they purposely make government worse, then they say that the government is ineffective and its only harmful, then they sell off pieces of the government's responsibility to their billionaire handlers, then they do an even worse job, providing fuel for another destructive cycle. And some folks *actually believe them*, even after 40+ years of this nefarious behavior.