This is how most human interaction works. No guns. And it works pretty well.

I don't know how to get this idea across. The belief that human beings will behave correctly or sensibly only if forced to by their moral and mental superiors is not one I can easily comprehend, from either end of the political spectrum. The main difference between the two ends of the spectrum is that the socialists currently have the guns. So far, I haven't been threatened with jail or fines if I don't join the fundamentalist Baptist church or have my wife wear a veil.

I cut this point out specifically because it is the key to the whole argument. In intelligent circles folks reach consensus and do so without violence. They do this because they realize it is practical, less divisive and in their own best interests. However, in less than sterling circles, in many places all over the world the less intelligent use violence to solve disputed issues. Their intellectual capacity for reasoning that they should compromise simply doesn't exist yet. Their fragile egos require that they be the victor of any squabble and violence is often the tool to secure this victory.

In a planet where everyone has the intelligence levels capable to reach compromises - a government is barely needed at all. In a planet where vast disparities between intellectual development is manifest - government is required and of a scale needed to reduce the violence.

Charitable handouts and social welfare - are really, when viewed from the big picture, violence reduction programs. Religion, too, is a violence reduction program

Theoretically, you can tell how intelligent a nation's citizens are by the degree and scale of their government and its influence upon human interaction. In practice however, the people who inhabit government often begin a power and money grab and so make such determination impossible.

In the US the bloated bureaucracy is the result of such a power grab and endless laws codes and regulations are justified under the banner of "government for the common good". (a banner which should be renamed "what's good for government!")

Slowly the monies, power and productivity are entirely drained from the private (read free) sector and into the government's hands (read controlled) , destroying the fabric of an economy and slowly unraveling what has been built by the private sector.

So Tom - if you stop paying your taxes - and millions others follow your example, the government will go broke and riots will emerge when the poor burn the cities and loot the rich. The government doesn't want this to happen and so at gunpoint they will take your money and heap many thousands of dollars in penalties at you for even entertaining such libertarian thoughts in your cranium. The CA FTB has a $500 penalty for not smiling as you mail in your return. (If you pay it late it adds an extra $1000 per month to the total fines. ;-)

Money is not at the root of all evil - but it can easily be overblown. In Germany during and after the war there were many suicides. I could relate many gruesome tales, but the one thing in common is that they lost it all and couldn't handle it. My grandmother passed on some sage wisdom to me - many folks can be nice when they have money - but put them through a war and loss and their true nature, character and priorities will be revealed. She lost a small fortune, an inheritance and thirty years worth of savings as the banks folded but simply set out to start again and was happy she had her health, her children and could start over. (No FDIC ;-)

It's easy to imagine that some folks in the US could live without a government - but clearly not all or even most. As a result there will always be argument and debate about how much government is necessary. When the world becomes more violent and the level of ignorance outside our nation increases - our government also grows in size. This is probably the only justifiable growth and I support the concept of war bonds over increased taxes. War bonds allow you to give the money when it's needed and get it back when it's not. Taxes are a one way street and are not voluntary, seldom are rolled back and generally penalize those who can't afford to be penalized. It's not hard to figure out why the government doesn't use war bonds in times of crisis anymore.

So it is our duty to check growth at the ballot box. I generally vote down every new program and new tax on the ballots. If one allows bureaucracy to grow, the masses are always equally impoverished for such growth. The end result is the two bread-winner household that still can't make ends meet and that work more hours for less pay. That is the gift of government growth and increased taxation. There is no free lunch. The poor will stay poor if they wish for a government handout and they will only succeed in adding to their ranks.

Tax corporations, soak the rich - and the employee pays...and pays...and pays.

All those employees' money just gets fed into the bureaucracy to pay for the tax collector's and auditor's salaries and the cars they drive, the building they work in and the air conditioning set at 65 degrees that keeps them cool.

Some people just can't quite grasp the concept and think in such banal generalities that they are unable to comprehend exactly who gets the shaft when you tax corporations or impose new laws on businesses such as paid maternity leave, etc. (Please...spare me the sob stories.)

There again is that intellect deficit and disparity at work. The gullible can be sold the bureaucracy and buy into some promise of even more money will head their way from the soaked rich and corporations. The synaptic centers just can't quite link the waves together to get the needed perspective and so then they grumble when they are out of work, their employer cuts their wage or bonuses and the economy suddenly come to a standstill as no one buys diddly-squat. In their anger they want to hurt their company even more as they perceive they are at the root of the evil. Such is the curse of socialist simplicity.

Basically, when the Government isn't your friend - it's your enemy - and requires eternal vigilance to keep the government doing what it is supposed to be doing and, whenever possible, keeping those folks out of government who want to make it do the stuff it should not be doing.

SDAI-Tech1