[yummyfajitas]

Don't forget: police protection, fire protection, military protection, paved roads, functioning traffic signals and signs, groomed parks, trash collection (some places), up to sixteen years of education, enforcement of workplace safety standards, financial protection if you become suddenly disabled, a legal system in which to resolve disputes.

Those services make up a fairly small portion of government spending. The really vital portions [1] are even smaller.

Most government spending is merely wealth redistribution.

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/piechart_2011_US_total

[1] Vital: protecting the US from Russian invasion. Non-vital: drone strikes on random Pakistanis. Vital: protection from bandits. Non-vital: war on drug users.

[rwl]

Do I think our actual government could do a better job of figuring out what to spend money on? Yes. Are there things I wish it did not spend money on, and other things I wish it spent more on? Absolutely. Is it possible that, if the government spent money on exactly what you or I thought was ideal, it would be raising fewer tax revenues and spending a lot less? Sure.

So what should we spend our money on? This is a policy question, and fortunately one which (however indirectly) we each have a say and a stake in. That is also what makes answering it a very messy process.

But answering it presupposes the principle that taxation by democratic government is legitimate. This is the principle which thecodeore was casting rhetorical aspersions on, and that I was defending.