> When did blind trust in government become the norm on "hacker" news?

I agree with you 100% and up voted you too. Furthermore people speak of "Government" as if it were a thing--akin to say an apple, as opposed to what it is in reality: a random group of random people with possibly, if not probably, virtually unlimited ideas on the nature of what the citizens under their thumb (or hopefully stewardship) have the right to see, hear, think, say or do.