OK, everyone wants smaller government, my question is what are you willing to give up to achieve this? Do you want safe food that won't cause disease? Can't cut the FDA. Want everyone to have access to basic education no matter if they come from a wealthy family or not? Can't cut the Department of Education. Like having clean air and water? Can't cut the EPA. Like having a nationwide road and air system to allow goods and services to be moved around the country to keep the economy afloat? Can't cut the Department of Transportation. Jon Stewart said it best, when it benefits other people they're simply "entitlement programs". When you need them, they're the hallmark of a decent society.
The problem the things most Libertarians want to cut are the staples of basic human society. Their idea of a true Free Market society is to remove all government regulations and guidelines which is the exact kind of thing that created the disaster in the banking sector. All kinds of regulations were removed/relaxed in the years leading up to the implosion, which led to the beloved Free Market running amok and grabbing people's cash with both hands. If it wasn't so painfully obvious that corporations can't be trusted to not take full advantage of not having to do things like keep the environment clean or take advantage of people, then the Libertarian outlook on life would be far more reasonable.
Finally, there needs to be someone to step up and point out that the GOP solution of "we should just get rid of social programs instead of fixing them" is not an valid option. We've had nearly 30 years of the Grover Norquist "drowning government in the bathtub" approach when it comes to dealing with government programs, and all it ends up doing is hurting people who need them and leads to privatizing of service by for-profit companies instead of government doing it for the public good.
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