All questions about how much power the government should have eventually come back to the same thing in the end. There are too many stupid/bad/fucked up people in the world.
My gut reaction is, of course, a resounding NONE! But that completely disregards all of the subtleties of the human condition.
I want to live in a world where people can do whatever makes them happy. But unfortunately it would be necessary to add the stipulation: "as long as they don't harm anyone else."
So now:
Do whatever makes you happy, as long as you're not directly harming anyone else.
Then there's the dichotomy of two diametrically opposed ideas of happiness. If what I want to do is play loud drums all night and all day, and what you want is to sit in a peaceful meadow, then who is right and who is wrong? I'm harming your happiness by finding my happiness. But if I am required to stop, than I won't be happy.
We'll have to turn to violence to sort this out.
(
Note: This is written in a really disjointed way, and I'm not really happy with the way it's organized, and my point here is kind of fuzzy. Basically, it needs work, but I'm posting it anyway, in hopes that maybe I'll work on it some more later.)