Re: that's NOT totalitarianism

The public sector allows women to become more productive in the economy by guaranteeing access to child care in many countries

yeah, right, that is why they require you to be licensed before setting up a daycare, including qualifications and constant inspections. And you can't do that if you're a man, by the way. Or a minor. You really chose a bad example here: a clear case where over-regulation makes a service either more expensive, or illegal.

I'm not defending every aspect of every government-run service and I'm not defending the kind of irrationality that I'm sure is propagated through government regulations concerning child care (although I'm not aware of the government outright preventing men from running daycares). This kind of irrationality isn't limited to government, and my greater point was that having a system of childcare guaranteed to all is preferable to having it possibly not available for parents who want and need it (and I'm thinking about the Nordic countries, in particular, when I'm considering government intervention like this that has allowed more women to become more productive in the workplace).

a basic level of education to children whose families otherwise wouldn't have the means to provide it.

It could just as well pay for it without having to take it over.

But if the libertarian argument is that government-run services are inefficient because they are guaranteed funding instead of having to earn it, why is a private school that is guaranteed government money going to be any more efficient?

The Internet,

Do you know how many .gov and .mil domains are there? And how many .com domains?

Irrelevant; the Internet wouldn't have come about how and when it did if not for government investment (though I'm not discounting the efforts of private business in its development as well).

nuclear energy,

Not hard to be a monopolist when you label anyone else who even thinks about it a terrorist.

I'm sure you're aware of the massive investments into facilities like Oak Ridge that were necessary in the Manhattan Project and that developing nuclear power was just as out of reach for private industry as space travel was.

The fact that the U.S. continues to dominate in web related industries and the wealth that's been created in this country because of that owes much to our government's spending in the development of the Internet.

Yet most of the hardware is ultimately Asian.

That's another issue. What I'm saying is there's a reason why Google, for example, is an American company.

countries with no environmental standards

Funny that the USA and the rest of the West also grew rich with no environmental standards.

Yeah, you'd think by now we would've found some ways to help these developing countries enrich themselves without destroying the environment, especially with the threat of climate change we're not cognizant of. Admittedly, it would involve government action and not just corporatist laissez faire free trade policies.

(as well as with easily exploitable undocumented immigrant labor).

Don't worry. Arizona took care of that.

No, taking care of it would mean cracking down on the CEOs who knowingly exploit these people instead of picking on the little guy who's just trying to feed his family.

I know that California Republicans are still orthodox Reaganites. But I doubt Democrats would raise taxes either if they had the necessary majority. They want to be reelected too.

Obama was elected on the promise of raising taxes for those of certain incomes.

I'd take issue with some of the other things you posted as well, but I'm fortunate enough to have some girls in my life this weekend so I'm just gonna leave it at that and get back to life for now (I actually find internet arguments really tedious). Hope your weekend is girl-filled as well; take care. :-)