The only way you can get away with labeling this "paranoia" is if you whitewash thousands of years of historical evidence that demonstrates the abusive and corrupt nature of centralized governments.
The stupidest, most anti-American argument one can make is "trust the government", since this country was founded on open revolution and skepticism towards government.
But you super smart, clever people keep acting like there isn't a mountain of evidence, both historical and contemporary, that proves how devious, corrupt, and abusive centralized governments can be. I wouldn't want to burst that fantasy bubble you're living in.
And yet, historically speaking, the closest the US has come to be dominated by a foreign power was when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor - an attack that mostly succeeded because of poor preparation on the part of the military.
And if Americans had not "trusted" the government to respond to said attacks, they would never have mobilized behind the government and put everything they had into the defeat of the attacking Japanese. So history has examples of trusting government also being positive.
But again - Paranoid is as Paranoid does.