Sometimes I ponder the possibility that government is both "evil" and "unavoidable." Things like infrastructure in a town... it won't work if we're just a group of individuals with shovels, and then the whole "MY neighborhood, but not THEIRS" sets in, because most humans are inherently self-involved.

Yes, I'm self-employed — my wife is, as well — and it IS in a way a hamster wheel, but at least it is a hamster wheel we've chosen to be on, voluntarily. That said, it does get frustrating when we know that part of the running we do is related to someone else's incompetence...