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I take a little bit of Locke's point of view as far as the reason for the existence of government: to protect the property and freedom of its citizens. I believe that that is the sole purpose of government and that anything stepping beyond those bounds to restrict activities that do not hurt anyone but the person doing it or to create laws where there is no logical factual basis for the law fitting into that reason is tyranny.
For example:
Maintaining a reasonable standing army: Acceptable, protects the citizens of the country from outside influence.
Instituting taxes to pay for the army: Acceptable, necessary to maintain the army.
Laws to keep gays from marrying: Unacceptable, even assuming that god himself came down from the heavens and proclaimed it to be a most grievous sin leading straight to hell, the people involved aren't hurting anyone but themselves.
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"Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform."
-- Mark Twain
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