Thinking it's just another one of those, I almost didn't read this because of the title. But, this was an excellent post, and your response to your friends is a good one.

When it comes to people in favor of an enormously powerful government, it's as if it never crosses their minds that someone they don't like may come to power one day. It should be the opposite. Because someone you don't like getting elected is essentially inevitable. One should think, what if I highly dislike someone who is in charge in the future, what kind of power do I want them to have?