The "big government" I'm concerned about is the "one size fits all" type of regulation typically passed by the federal government. I'm not so concerned about the individual states regulating within the states. The original idea (Madison, Jefferson, et. al) was that the federal government's roll would be restricted and the states would be allowed to govern themselves. To this, I subscribe. It has been shown that, except for the military and international commerce, the states have much better success regulating than does the fed.