‘Limited government’ is just an empty buzzword for these people. They believe that government is too powerful, too big, and too fallible — right up to the moment they reach the Oval Office and get to play with the launch buttons. From today’s New York Times:
Even as they advocate for limited government, many of the Republican presidential candidates hold expansive views about the scope of the executive powers they would wield if elected — including the ability to authorize the targeted killing of United States citizens they deem threats and to launch military attacks without Congressional permission. …
[M]ost of them see the commander in chief as having the authority to lawfully take extraordinary actions if he decides doing so is necessary to protect national security. Only Mr. Paul, the libertarian-leaning congressman from Texas, argued for a more limited view of presidential power.
My father is a Republican who regularly laments the big-government liberals. I pointed out that it was inconsistent to decry big government while supporting every-expanding law enforcement (he favors more criminal laws and thinks cops and prosecutors should be allowed to get results by whatever means necessary). He told me cops and prosecutors were not part of the government, and that was not “big government.” Discussion over.