How much should a person have to encounter, or notice, government as they live their life? As long as a person is not attacking- defrauding- or stealing from- the innocent, government should have zero presence in their life whatsoever, unless they choose to contact the government on their own. (And in that case, I suggest counseling.)
That means: no permits, no taxes, no forms to fill out in triplicate, no second glances at the speedometer, no thought as to whether the gun on your hip is visible. No nothing. No contact whatsoever as long as no innocent person (who is completely unable to defend themselves, and has no one near to help defend them) is being attacked or defrauded. Even in that case they would do well to keep in mind that there is no situation so dire, so hopeless, that it can't be made orders of magnitude worse by having a LEO show up. Invited or not. If you are in real trouble, hope for help to show up without a badge.
I advocate nothing other than reduction or elimination of government in all areas, and growth or lateral shifting of government in none. A lot of what "political freedom advocates" consider "working for freedom" is only lateral movement; shifting the burden slightly to one side without actually addressing the foundational problems. The foundational problem is the act of trying to regulate or control anything other than aggression or theft (by whatever means, including "taxation").
When you have the choice, involve government in no area of your life. You will be safer and freer for it.
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As I said recently somewhere else, it doesn't make any sense, but 99% of the people somehow believe government can be "fixed". They believe that the things they don't like can be stopped and the things they do like can be made into law, while somehow also believing that those two things will keep being that way.
GOPers and Demos somehow believe that "well, we don't control the government now, but just until X years from now, then we'll stop the bad laws and make good laws".
Basically they subscribe to the notion that government can controll others, yet somehow it won't control them.
"GOPers and Demos somehow believe that "well, we don't control the government now, but just until X years from now, then we'll stop the bad laws and make good laws"."
Just so. It's just like the war for the One Ring in Tolkien, isn't it? "Just put me in charge, with the ability to force everyone to do it 'right'--on pain of death of course--and all the problems will go away."
...and Santayana's legacy as a modern Cassandra gets bolstered another notch...
I've started paraphrasing LeFevre this way: "Decent people do not need government, and indecent people are nowise restrained by it." (LeFevre's original quote is probably better: "If men are good, you don't need government; if men are evil or ambivalent, you don't dare have one.")
I think Hurricane Katrina showed perfectly that you cannot rely on the government for help and you can rely on the free market for help
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