`Gov`t` turns into dirty word in this year`s US pres. election . SEPTEMBER 11, 2012 03:29. . The Republican Party of the U.S. has historically proposed guarantees of free business activity and the Democratic Party the government’s proactive intervention in the market as strategies aimed at achieving the same goals of national prosperity and economic growth.

In this year’s presidential election, however, the principle of this dichotomy has all but collapsed.

The Republican attack on “big government” and the party`s emphasis on entrepreneurship have changed little. For the Democrats, however, the term “government” has become the most taboo language in their official announcements, including the national convention, since the party values the government’s role in the market.

President Barack Obama told his party`s convention Thursday that the U.S. faces a time when it needs a ‘Roosevelt-style experiment’ to overcome the economic slump. Indirectly proposing a Keynesian-style solution, he thus avoided using the term “the government’s role.”

In a forum hosted by the Associated Press in April, Obama also said, “I am not a person who believes that the government can solve all different problems.”

Apart from the president, a growing number of Democratic politicians are also making a political “coming out” by calling themselves “real supporters of business activity,” which reflects the trend in American society of rapidly turning conservative.

According to an opinion poll conducted by Fox News in July, 64 percent of Americans who replied to the survey blamed the government as the cause of the economic downturn. Seventy-five percent said Americans depend too much on the government.

Julian E. Zelizer, a public policy professor at Princeton University, said, “The U.S. originally valued individual freedom and was wary of the government’s excessive role, but never before has anti-government sentiment been stronger than now.”

National Public Radio said Sept. 2, “The Republican Party is busy criticizing the government and the Democratic Party is scrambling to avoid criticism,” adding, “Government has become a dirty word in the U.S.”

Experts say President Obama is struggling in the election race despite his advantage as the incumbent because Democrats are lagging behind in an agenda war with Republicans. For the U.S. to overcome its economic crisis, the government inevitably has a role to play.

On his path toward reelection, Obama is tasked with readjusting and fine-tuning relations between the government’s role, a core value of Democrats, and criticism of big government.