Things have changed a bit since the time of the founding fathers. Welfare and other public assistance, for example, were not as big an issue in a young country that had not had time to become overpopulated, and where there was more work than there were people to do it. While their philosophical approach to a government for the people is timeless (ironic that one of their problems with the Monarchy was frittering away money on expensive crap, and that's how the French nobility lost their bewigged and powdered heads during THAT revolution of the same era- LET THEM EAT CAKE! *chop *thud), trying to apply that philosophy in the modern world takes a far deeper understanding of its tenets...

OBVIOUSLY the wars are a major outlet for government spending- unpopular wars, that The People are having a hard time digesting, as tehy were shoved down our throats with the lubricant of National Security and Patriotism...

Edit: Anyone remember that the early settlers of this fine country were so appalled by the excesses of the contemporary monarchy, that the wearing of something so simple as silver coat-buttons or any type of jewelry was considered scandalous in some communities?