The bigger part of the problem, which most of the arguments try to bury in fertilzer is this, in the United States the federal Government has no business doing a lot of the things that it has taken on. Many of those responsibilities are things that are reseverved for the individual states.
While some of this may seem a bit odd to those from other countries (exceptions might be Canada, Australia and Russia), we have states that are as big as, if not bigger than some countries in the rest of the world. And I am sure that some of you all living in Europe have felt a degree of irritation at the power the EU has over individual nations rights. We ahve heard of some of those squabbles from time to time...
This is all part of a bigger question - Just how powerful should the federal government be? And there are a great many here in the US that feel that the power of the federal government needs to be rolled back. Some think a bit, and some think a lot... We do tend to be a more conservative lot, and there is a growing sense that the entitlements are getting a bit rich. I would like to be able to afford a fine steak, and I do get a bit pout off when some yob with a government aid card can buy the steaks that I can't afford. Why should he be able to eat well and get fat when I am working and have to eat beans?