Quote Originally Posted by Dayuhan View Post
I've often noted that Americans who identify as "conservative" face a struggle to reconcile opposite views on freedom. On the one hand you have a strong libertarian streak, built around the idea that people ought to be free to do what they please as long as their actions don't intrude on the freedoms of others. The opposing side is the social conservative streak, which is all about intruding on the freedoms of others: the most cherished freedom of American social conservatives is the freedom to restrict the freedom of those they dislike.
That's the fundamental contradiction in the modern Republican Party. And the Tea Party's claim to libertarianism does not actually resolve this problem; it only intensifies it. The opposition to mandatory coverage for birth control (which has far more numerous medical purposes than Viagra) as well as to gay marriage and/or civil unions are cases in point. The Tea Party is a populist-reactionary element in a party with decreasing appeal among increasingly active segments of society.

First, when did so many people start fearing the government to the extent they do, and why did that come about?
I think the single most important factor was de-segregation. Not only did the federal government actively intervene to overturn state and local level monopolies on political power, it challenged the very foundations of southern politics. Even as the West grows in size, and the North and West surpass the South in economic achievement, the South retains disproportionate representation in Congress. The "conservative values" of the modern Republican Party are a reflection of southern values.

The other question... if we claim an individual right to armed revolution, secession, or whatever else, at what point does that right come into play?
There is no such right recognized anywhere. The "sovereign citizens" movement is an attempt to claim such a 'right' but it has been consistently and relentlessly opposed by the courts and law enforcement. The fundamental requirement for democratic government to function is for the citizen to obey the laws passed by his elected representatives. He is not a 'citizen' if he does not belong to a state, and the state implements its laws through a bureaucracy. A man has no rights under the 'laws of nature' because the 'laws of the jungle' are the laws of the strong; hence the formation of the state to govern the behavior of men.