Re: ok by your extremist argument
Many of the things you mention could easily be done by the private sector. Maybe sooner, maybe later than they were actually done by the government, but if something is really needed, people will generally be willing to pay for it.
I think we can all agree that the government wastes far more money than it needs to doing far more things than it has to. Our current budget is over TWICE what it was in 1974 in constant dollars, and I have a really hard time believing that there is twice as much absolutely essential government expenses today as there was back in 1974 during the height of the Cold War, an energy crisis, and a major economic meltdown.