Forum Post: the Free Market vs. Big Government

One of the main arguments against Occupy that I hear from the Right is that we want "Big Government". Neoliberal economists are always trumpeting the virtues of the free market, and asserting that we need less regulation for these supposed markets to be truly free. This is almost always framed in terms of Small vs. Big Government.
I think this is totally crazy, and even crazier that people on the "left" buy in to this framework for discussion at all, insisting that what we actually need is "regulation." This makes us sound like sissies. Case in point, how could the market exist without the government? The markets need the government to step in and enforce patent laws, put people in jail who steal or trespass. They need the government to set up and maintain borders around nation states so that they can control the flow of cheap, (illegal) labor. They need the government to protect their monopolies, to tax people to pay for wars, and to accumulate and collect debt on their behalf.
Of course, these same people have no problem with a rise in spending and government debt, or with growing the overall size of the government in order to pay for pointless wars or expand the prison system.