Certainly no apology is required. Like I said, even most conservatives do not know that over $1 trillion is spent every single year on various social programs.
Another thing that most people believe is that "the biggest expense category in the US Budget is Defense. If 100 people were lined up at random and that statement was made and the 100 were asked TRUE or FALSE, what % do you think would say TRUE?
The fact is, social welfare receives THREE TIMES the spending than what the Department of Defense receives. As the world gets more dangerous, we are spending less and less on Defense (% of Defense spending versus total spending) and more and more on social welfare.
The % of total spending allocated to Defense has been on a decline ever since JFK, broken only by Ronald Reagan, until 9/11 when George Bush bumped up the %.
Even so, Bush is spending less than 20 cents of every dollar on Defense, even after 9/11, whereas JFK spent nearly 48 cents of every dollar on Defense.
The pervasive dependence on government (city, state, and especially federal) frightens me more than just about any other problem in our country. I'm pretty sure the founders wouldn't recognize what we've become.