Just How Small Should a Government Be?

As I was reading and responding to another of Griper's Posts; "Taxes, Blessed are the Poor.", there were so many issues that came up relating to Taxes that I couldn't say it all in the Comment Section of that Post.

I got thinking about another whole Tax issue when I was reading a Comment by BB-Idaho that was submitted to the Linked Post on 4/19/09, at 2:38 PM. In this Comment, I found it interesting that the Flat Tax Rate that he was suggesting contained an 11% Tax Rate, which isn't much different from the 10% that is spoken of in the Bible. I wonder if everyone really did give 10% of their Income to the Church, if the Church could do a lot of the things that the Government is currently doing.

Another interesting thing to note about Taxes is that when Taxes go up, often Donations to Churches and Charities go down and when Taxes are down, Donation go up.

The idea that the Churches and Private Charities should be taking care of people, rather than the Government is an interesting one that is held by some Republican Christians. The problem is that not all Republicans think this way. Many Republicans just want the freedom to keep their money and let the Poor fend for themselves. They forget that some of the Poor are actually Handicapped or Disabled. Aside from the Physically Challenged and the Mentally Challenged, some people are also Emotionally Challenged in ways that hinder their ability to function in our Society. Due to the basic Selfishness of people in general, if the Government wasn't supporting the needs of those who genuinely do need the assistance, would there be enough money Donated to Churches and Private Charities to take care of these needs?

One thing that has concerned me quite a bit in relation to this is that the Severely Challenged are better able to get Governmental Assistance than those whose Physical, Mental and/or Emotional Limits are more Minor, yet even Minor Limits and Handicaps can prevent someone from succeeding in a Capitalist Society. Remember, we are not talking about Laziness here. We are talking about actual real Conditioned or Genetic Limits.

Below the Post that I Linked to above, we had a really interesting discussion about the Flat Tax verses the Progressive Tax System, as well as the Fair Tax System that has been suggested by Mike Huckabee.  In the Post that you are reading now, I am addressing the idea of expanding the role of Churches and Private Charities to meet more of the needs in our Society.

Before we carry this idea too far, let's consider the fact that the Government also provides Fire Protection and Law Enforcement, so we obviously do need some Government.  Another problem that comes to my mind is whether or not the Church could really handle the burden when people really do genuinely need on going help due to a very real Handicap that prevents them from working not only temporarily, but indefinitely.  Isn't the task of caring for such people a rather large burden to place on a Church?

I guess the question that I am really asking to some of you Republicans is how far exactly do you want this "Small Government" idea to go?  Where should we draw the line between the Reasonable and the Extreme?  Just how much of the needs of Society should be handled by the Government and how much of it should be handled by Private Churches and Charities?  I'm not sure that I know the answer to these questions, but I eagerly await your Responses.