Exactly, Free SW gives a common base that everybody can use and everybody can expand. This lowers the barriers of entry, making it easier and much cheaper to come up with a crazy idea and implement it.

In addition to this, the free software developed lowers the barriers of entry for new companies, thus pushing the economy forward. Just think about it, do you know any web start-ups that aren't using FOSS as the backbone on which they build their services?

These are the first ones that came to my mind, but you could try one of these, or this one, or this one, or this quite small one.

The government should provide the basic services that make life relatively safe and stable, so the individual can have a life without having to buy a gun in order to get security, buy a car in order to get transportation, or expending fortunes in health services. Here in Spain, nobody has lost their home because they had to pay a medical bill like in the U.S..

Better yet: understand the industry you are in. FOSS is just a more efficient way of creating software than the closed and proprietary approach. It benefits society directly by providing it with free tools, a higher pace of innovation and lower barriers for newcomers. Also, you can do a living out of it in many many ways (I do).