Big government

excessively large state

Big government means a government system which many people think of as either too large or which tries to do too much. Policies that are usually described as Big Government include laws on food (such as New York City's laws on soft drink sizes), laws on morality (like those against prostitution or drugs), or policies that seek centralization.

A similar idea is Big Brother for an intrusive surveillance state.

Similar terms are parent government, nanny state (especially in British English), and managerial state.

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