“I love my country, but (I) fear my government” is a saying on bumper stickers and T-shirts that dates to at least April 1987. It is not known who originated the saying.
   
   
Zazzle.com
I Love My Country, but I Fear My Government.
T-shirt
Product id: 235575146850042468
Made on 2/8/2009 3:38 PM
   
Google News Archive
16 April 1987, Toledo (OH) Blade, pg. 16, col. 5:
There is a bumper sticker that sums it up: “I love my country but fear my government.” .
   
21 October 1990, Dayton (OH) Daily News, “Armaments, Arrows, Guns and Money,” pg. 1B:
Next to the salesman was a sign reading: “I love my country, but I fear my government.”
 
6 October 1991, The Press (Atlantic City, NJ), “Willing to fight for guns”:
I love my country, but I fear my government, as someone once stated.
   
27 December 1992, Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO), Letters:
No wonder bumper stickers all over the West read: “I love my country, but I fear my government.”
 
Google Books
Savage Dreams:
A journey into the hidden wars of the American West
By Rebecca Solnit
San Francisco, CA”: Sierra Club Books
1994
Pg. 10:
... with the government that regulates them; “I love my country but I fear my government,” says a bumper sticker that tries to straighten out this muddle).