Stop believing in the government

From João VI to Dilma, how did the idea emerge in the country that the government is responsible for everything?

Why do we Brazilians, despite distrusting politicians, whom we hurl the most creative and varied insults at, demand government intervention whenever problems arise? Why do we take to the streets to protest against politicians and simultaneously demand more government—as if it weren't run by... politicians? Why do we hate politicians and love the government? Why have we come to depend on the government for almost everything?

In "Stop Believing in Government ," Bruno Garschagen seeks to understand how the idea that the government is responsible for solving all or most social, political, and economic problems historically emerged in Brazil. From Dom João VI to Dilma Rousseff, an unwavering commitment united all rulers, including those called (wrongly, according to the author) liberals or neoliberals: the preservation of the monumental state and even its growth. Why?

To answer this set of questions, the author delves into Brazil's political history from the time the Portuguese arrived here to the present day. With a brilliant, lighthearted, humorous, and informative text, also drawing on insights from Brazilian and Portuguese thinkers, he weaves a kind of conversation between intellectuals who reflected on Brazil's political culture to narrate the history of a country whose cultural formation is intertwined with the omnipresence of national bureaucracy.