A valid 'Republican' idea that should have been debated by the broader citizenry

Are there any?

In my ~sixty years of living, an enormous shift has occurred, away from the freedom of the individual to government and corporate control. I’ve often thought that the oligarchs use the two-party system the way that a sailor uses wind direction when he wants to sail upwind. Tack left, tack right, tack left, tack right…he can’t fight directly against the wind or against popular opinion, but as long as he maintains an angle (triangulating) he can get where he wants to go.

I once had a friend who sounded like a communist to me, when he argued in favor of ‘free everything’ from the government. He was an adult with a responsible job but a background that made him admire the far left of South America. We occasionally would have friendly arguments about it. My contention was this: too often, when liberals pass a social program that is reasonable and beneficial, the republicans find a way to turn it into a weapon in furtherance of a police state.
*Safer highways? Driver licenses ensure people know basic rules — but what are driver licenses used for now?
*Single moms with dependent children get a monthly benefit to help feed or clothe the kids? Republicans turned it into an excuse to inspect her bedroom dresser contents for evidence that a man might be living there.
*Democrats supported internet funding, which turned into a tool for massive surveillance and control.
*“Affordable housing”? Became billionaire tax breaks for real-estate-investment-trusts and land speculators.
*FDA regulation? Well, I know of a $9,000 per month medicine that is available abroad for $700. So, yes, it has become a tool for corporate profit as much or more than being protection for the general public.
*Subsidies and regulations in general? Often get used in a discriminatory way in racist America from cops that selectively punish blacks for traffic violations, to industry-capture of regulators which results in a wider moat for new competition.

The skepticism that the rightwing pretends to have against government programs and government regulation taps into a kernel of truth: these will usually be distorted into weapons and tools of power. Liberals do not effectively talk about this issue — in part, because the rightwing doesn’t present real policy, just click-bait and name-calling (and the public thus has an attention span of a gnat).

Instead of authentically debating and contributing intelligent perspectives to political discourse, the GOP resorted to fear tactics, election tampering / voter suppression / gerrymandering, and corporate money like the foot of a giant, and astroturf groups that provide inauthentic citizen engagement. They killed civics classes, bought up most media, and now, are led / influenced by guys who literally don’t want democracy at all. In the meantime, the Democrats have to contend with ‘groundhog day’ media coverage and artificial labeling of everyone from Barack Obama to AOC to Mamdani as ‘communists’, which triggers the irrational fear in large swaths of the public.

Do we as Democrats recognize the legitimate reasons for anti-government skepticism, and how do we address it more broadly than just specific oversight?
Thoughts?