All I can say is that the house I live in, the clothes I wear, the car I drive, the food I eat, the PC I'm using now, and just about everything I see around me were all provided by private enterprise. The government on the hand has given me two idiotic wars, high taxes and they deliver the mail.
That's a little extreme.
Government has provided the roads you drive on, for one thing.
I think most of the roads around here are contracted out to private contractors, by the government. Garbage pickup in this area is done the same way.
You've hit on an important difference. For many government services, the government is basically a central clearinghouse, not a direct provider of goods and services. Typically goverment steps in when there is a public desire that is broad-based, and not easily met by individual private contracts. The government acts as a group buyer, not unlike a big company purchasing insurance for its employees.
Roads are a good example. The public wants them, but if individual homeowners contract only for their own piece of pavement, the roads would be inconsistent and of little use to anyone. Government exerts its buying power to collect a share from the users and contract to build and maintain the roads for the benefit of the users.
Public frustration with government occurs when the collections outweigh the perceived benefits. This can come from government adding services that don't adequately benefit the payers or from government ineffectively using its power to get efficient delivery of those services that are broadly expected.
