Ronald Reagan's pronouncement in 1981 that "government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem" has defined American politics for nearly three decades. Skepticism of government has deep roots and strong resonance throughout American political history, yet in many ways the American state has grown steadily larger and stronger. This course explores this conundrum by examining the American state, and its growth, in various arenas. We will assess traditional theories about the weak American state in light of arguments about the state as: regulator of family and "private" life, adjudicator of relations between racial and ethnic groups, manager of economic inequalities, insurer of security, and arbiter of the acceptable uses of violence and surveillance.