“ If you want to be socially progressive, you have to support initiatives that foster social progress, like education equality, women’s health resources, criminal justice reform, universal healthcare, workplace equality, and so on. These initiatives either cost taxpayer money, require governmentally enforced regulation, or both. If you believe in smaller government and want to pay less in taxes, how do you propose social progress be made?”

Answer: Philanthropy. Social progress is best funded by voluntary donations to good causes. Citizens and Charities always spend money wiser than Government departments do. See the good work being done by the Gates Foundation, or the Rotary Foundation for instance. You seem to think that social progress can only come about through regulation by big Government, or by big Government stealing a bunch of money from hard-working citizens and throwing it at the problem. Newsflash: most welfare payments make people worse off over time, and trap people into welfare dependency. If high taxes and high Government spending is the answer to everything, why isn’t America in a Golden Age right now, after 8 years of both from the Obama Administration? Why did America reject the path of Big Government when they gave Congress, Senate and Presidency to the Republicans? Could it be that initiatives that “either cost taxpayer money, require governmentally enforced regulation, or both” are deeply unpopular with the American public?