Sorry to stomp on such an eloquent post, but your entire thesis is based on the premise that the productivity of this nation is based on the government and government programs. Your post keeps telling us that we should be glad for the taxes we pay, since they are apparently the source of our prosperity.

Wrong.

The wealth of this nation has been produced by creative individuals working in an environment where they are free to innovate and, more importantly, free to keep (most) of the wealth they produce.

If our government has any responsibility for this, it is in a negative sense: our government is not as oppressive and confiscatory as the governments of those nations of poverty-stricken people that you mention. In other words, our government has encouraged the success of this nation primarily by Not Doing Anything. One could, suppose, make a case for the government supporting innovation by protecting the private property rights of innovators and other citizens, but this does not seem to be where most of our tax money goes nowadays.

To make it short and sweet: we are prosperous more in spite of our current government "system" than because of it.

And yes, I know you refer to "the system" and not the government specifically, but given the context of Phil's post:

Never have so many conspired together to sieze the products of our hard earned labors by force if necessary.

...and your response to that, there is no other possible interpretation. Just in case you try to parse your way around this.