If I were to make a list of my top 100 problems...

...big government wouldn't even make the cut. If you're not a bazillionnaire, big government doesn't affect you. If you are a bazillionnaire, big government isn't going to significantly change that.

Federal taxes have never been a significant issue to me, and I don't delude myself into believing that reducing the size of government will ever result in a better standard of living for me and mine.

Over the last 30 years (since Reagan) my income has increased with my level of experience and qualification, but the average American's income has remained flat. Meanwhile, the amount of money held by corporate CEOs and their ilk has increased amazingly disproportionately to that of The People. They are getting not just richer, but oh-my-God richer, despite these not-very-high taxes that they are paying to our big government.

Not one of the problems that any of us face in life are caused by so-called big government — some of them, however, are caused by a government which fails to respond to the very real needs of our nation, a government whose functions are curtailed by an obstructionist Republican agenda which is designed to benefit only those who can afford to pay large sums of money in the form of contributions, lobbying, and the promise of well-paid positions. These people do not expend these large sums in order to bring benefit to The People. Don't be fooled. They care no more about you than the man on the moon.

I, like most other Americans, pay taxes. I pay taxes in order to contribute my fair share to the cost of managing these United States of America. I pay these taxes so that my government can tend to matters which are beyond my scope. I pay these taxes because I want my government to properly manage the resources of this land. I want them to provide for the protection of our borders from marauders who might overtake us if we had no defences against them. I want my government to be better for us than those marauders would be.

I want my government to ensure that economic downturns are brief and less painful than these natural market conditions might otherwise be, through the use of prudent monetary policy. Without their influence, the working class bears the privilege of enduring the most pain when the market's down, and these downturns last for longer periods of time. This is why we have a Federal Reserve, to ensure that the money supply matches the economic need. I don't want to experience an American economy that doesn't include the Federal Reserve. I'm not filthy rich, so I don't think I'd like it. I don't have the resources to ride-out a recession which is allowed to just fester and wait for a natural economic upturn. There is nothing natural about economics. Conditions are man-made. This recession was man-made. It is not natural in any way, and those who'd say otherwise are fools and liars.

I want my government to protect my country from all enemies foreign and domestic, and those who would grossly enrich themselves while destroying our land are enemies domestic. They need to be regulated and policed, for they cannot do it for themselves. Of course, sometimes our government fails us and lets idiots blow the tops off of mountains in order to provide for an improvement in efficiency that the coal industry didn't need, and those who ran that industry profited enormously as they jettisoned the workers that they no longer needed. Our government fails us through inadequate supervision of our oil companies resulting in horrible spills that should never have happened. Our government fails us through inadequate supervision of our financial markets allowing evil people to extract enormous profits through active deceit and fraud.

That is small government. That is what happens when you let the foxes watch the henhouse.

As an ordinary, middle-class American, I cannot name for you a single problem in my life which was caused by big government, but I can name many which were, and are, caused by government inaction, by small government.

I will never likely be rich, nor will you. Are you still kidding yourself? Are you still a victim of the liars who tell us our problems are caused by over-regulation, who tell us that our tax rates are too high, and that your economic circumstances will be better if your tax rates are reduced? Do you honestly believe that any improvement in your financial situation brought about by a tax decrease won't be quickly eaten-up by an economy which is rigged against you?

Do you really think that your life will improve after an over-zealous government full of religious idealists has finally eliminated the reproductive rights of about 50% of the people? Do you not understand that you cannot regulate your way into a perfect, little Christian world? Do you not understand that in order to have your perfect, little Christian world you are going to have to murder millions of people to get there? Then you're going to have to keep the blood flowing pretty continuously as new persons are born who are, inevitably, not going to fall in line with your particular ideology? Do you not understand that the dissent of others will absolutely, always be an issue, and that only through some form of legally-sanctioned murder will you be able to maintain this perfect, little theocracy that you've created?

Do you really think that your life will improve in any way by violating the civil rights of people with whom you disagree? Do you honestly believe that the strength of your family is diminished because Adam & Steve got legally married and raised a family? Do you honestly believe that your children are any more likely to be gay because they were not allowed to bully and beat up other kids who either were gay or merely presumed so? Does your exposure to gay people affect you this way? Or does it merely call into question your ability to continue to hate these people on the basis of something you've been able to reject as a result of their lack of proximity to you? Or, perhaps, your lack of knowledge of that proximity? It's easier to hate those whom you don't know, isn't it?

Homosexuality is not a choice. Homophobia is a choice, and I fear homophobic persons far more than homosexual persons, for the former are much more dangerous than the latter.

Should your irrational fears allow you to inflict violence, insult, or second-class-citizen status upon others because they aren't just like you? Is your happiness contingent upon the misery of others? What kind of person does this make you? Why should the millions of people who disagree with you tolerate you? How often are you going to be willing to allow your anger to flare-up over issues which you cannot control? Will you take your hate and your fears to your grave? Will you teach others (i.e. your children) to similarly hate and fear and take it to their graves? Or will you open-up your heart to the reality of the world and release yourself from the irrational burden of your fears?

A government which regulates the private affairs of its citizens while leaving the thieves, liars, and polluters free to ruin the air, land, sea and economy is a government whose priorities are woefully misplaced, and it is incumbent upon all free-thinking citizens to exercise their rights and vote out the idiots who are not properly mindin' the store.

People like to think that they are better than others by virtue of some notion or another, be it out of smugness, bigotry, or a choice to interpret their own will to adhere to a lifestyle dictated by someone else, a belief system, as a source of preeminence or dominion over others, even if their only contribution to others is their own perceived preemininence, or, "I believe this therefore I'm right, and you must submit to my will." Or His will, as "I" perceive it to be. This is evil, and awful, regardless of the source of your belief, whether a person, text, or tradition. Your system belongs to you and you alone. Mine belongs to me and me alone.

Somehow, I am able to live my beliefs without any insistence that others do likewise. I find this to be a completely painless part of my existence and, more importantly, it brings no pain to others. I subject no one to my will. I feel no need whatsoever to inhibit Adam and Steve's path to happiness. I fully regard their contributions to society to be as worthy as my own, and I fully support and defend their desire to commit their lives to each other, both personally and legally, without regard for what they do behind closed doors, if anything, just as I don't concern myself with what Adam & Eve do behind closed doors, if anything. It's just not something I need to be concerned about. It's not really about what happens behind those closed doors. It's about commitment, and commitment alone.

A wise person once told me that "none of this will matter in 100 years." So true. Those who believe that their problems are caused by the personal activities of others who live a different lifestyle are doomed to spend their lives in the constant misery that is their own minds. Their lives only affect you if you insist upon it. But if you just let go, you'll find immense freedom in your own brave new world. You'll no longer be chained to your fears, your hatred will dissipate, and a new spirit of happiness will descend upon you which cannot be altered by the dessiminators of fear and hate, to whom you'll relinquish no control of your blissful nature. And ye shall rebuke them, as it should be. So the question is:

What kind of person do you want to be?