Do You, or Have You Ever, Lived in the United States? Then You Are a Filthy Criminal.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Why is this a question of small government vs. big government, when it should be a question of good government vs. bad government?

Because it is impossible to define "good" government, and naive to extreme to even try. Italy has the still-all-powerful Mafia; Eastern European countries the corruption in ever place, nook, and cranny; US the all-powerful lobbies, which makes US legislature not a matter of whether it works, but how many and which lobbies it pleases, and which it does not. As someone here before stated, a mod I believe, "different cheeks, same ********".