So no, it's not a straw man. Some conservatives really do believe this.
Weak man vs. straw man.
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/05/12/weak-men-are-superweap...
A handful of extremists are not representative.
AFR were extremists a couple years ago, sure, but the Overton Window recently shifted. You may have noticed.
Here's an example of actual government waste. The ACA provides subsidies for low-deductible health insurance. Those plans are less efficient than high-deductible plans because the plans cost more (to the government and the patient), and because the act of laundering the cost of routine care through an insurance company causes healthcare costs to increase because insurance companies are less price sensitive than patients.
The government does this out of regulatory capture. Health insurance companies don't want people using less expensive plans and health provider companies don't want patients to be price sensitive.
Do you disagree with that? If so we can have a discussion. There is no discussion to be had about whether there should be public roads.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_Trust_Fund
* https://taxfoundation.org/gasoline-taxes-and-tolls-pay-only-...