fkent,
The most thing "near and dear" to me is my own money. The less of it the government takes, the more of it I can use. The less the govt takes, the more small business can grow, hire, pay employees, and put more money back into the economy.
I am all for paying for a national defense...period, in my federal tax dollars. I'm all for paying towards my retirement as long as there are some guarantees on ROI. For everything else, well that's what charities (welfare, medicare) and state, local taxes (roads, infra) are for.
TJR