Government would be far more efficient if you had a choice about whether you participated in its schemes. Mutual self-defense is the purpose of government and

Government would be far more efficient if you had a choice about whether you participated in its schemes. Mutual self-defense is the purpose of government and is very cheap compared to the total cost of the US government. I doubt anyone would opt out of that arrangement, especially if they then had to pay an additional tax whenever they wish to trade with the US. And all of the rest, the insurance schemes, forced charity, regulation can surely been done and are done better by voluntary arrangement. Even local government would be better if you could leave any municipality that failed to deliver. So the problem is lack of choice, lack of competition. In other words, they can compel you, so they don't have to pay attention to all of the concerns that entities always must pay attention to when you have a choice. If state and city governments knew that territory and the taxes it pays could "walk away", they would be much more responsive. Or they would start shrinking, as people left for better arrangements. In more primitive tribal arrangements, that's exactly what people did when someone became a tyrant. We have lost that and we need to get it back.