Corona virus, China major city lockdowns, etc.

[Shaggy Hiker]

what I dont understand is how people believe in the government.
when in time, and in history the government was working for the benefit of the working man?
it has always been for the elite, for the benefit of the rich and powerful.

That's a common misperception. The rich don't care. They're rich. The powerful care, if the source of their power is political. But it tends to be the middle class in most countries. The poor have no power, the rich don't need to bother, but the middle class have both the means and the necessity to drive society. That group might also be thought of as "the merchant class" in many countries. In the US, the definition would have to be pretty broad.

Where money comes into the picture, in the US, is to sway the middle class one way or another. That is a remarkably weak lever. It's strong and capable, but it can be broken off with ease. One of the bigger, on-going, fights in the US is about keeping that lever functioning. Financial disclosure, or stronger campaign financing laws, would remove that lever or make it much harder to use. Instead, we have generally drifted in the opposite direction.