questions about the government, proxies, and my security

1) what does does government see if im not using a proxy?
2) if im using a proxy, how much of a difference does it make and how much safer am i?
3) does using a laptop rather than a desktop protect my location, identity, or what they see?
i just get pretty paranoid about this shit and proxies are a real pain in the ass.

does no one know or no one cares, or both?

Yeah.. I worry about this stuff, too.. but I just can't be bothered with proxies. Without revealing too much, let me just say it would be very, very challenging to pull down my info from where I launch..