Big government is a pejorative term generally used by political conservatives or laissez-faire advocates to describe a government which is excessively large or inefficient, or which is inappropriately involved in certain areas of public policy. In this latter sense the term may also be used by political liberals in relation to government policies which attempt to regulate matters considered to be private or personal, such as private sexual behavior. Look up pejorative in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Conservatism [derivative of conserve; from Latin conservare, to keep, guard, observe] is a philosophy defined by Edmund Burke as a disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve. Classical conservatism does not readily avail itself to the ideology of objectives. ... Laissez-faire is short for laissez faire, laissez passer, a French phrase meaning to let things alone, let them pass. First used by the eighteenth century Physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it is now used as a synonym for strict free market economics. ... Public policy is a policy or set of policies which forms the foundation of public law. ... This article discusses liberalism as a major political ideology as it developed and stands currently. ...

Commentators who use the term are often concerned about government delivery of public goods, and government involvement in the formulation and implementation of laws and policies concerning civil rights, social justice and social welfare. However, such commentators may also be supportive of capital punishment, stronger executive powers for government, a larger criminal justice system (particularly in terms of the numbers of police and prisons), and a powerful military. In economics, a public good is a good that is hard or even impossible to produce for private profit, because the market fails to account for its large beneficial externalities. ... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... Social Justice is a philosophical definition of the justice found operating in any given societys systems of social control. ... ... It has been suggested that Capital punishment debate be merged into this article or section, because the split violates the Wikipedia:Content forking guideline. ... The study of criminal justice traditionally revolves around three main components of the criminal justice system: police, courts, corrections. ...

Some populist commentators combine criticism of "big government" with criticism of "big business," casting them as an alliance against the public. Others include "big labor," although this connection would be somewhat contrived in many countries, such as the United States, where organized labor often has distinctly populist goals. Populism is a political philosophy or rhetorical style that holds that the common persons interests are oppressed or hindered by the elite in society, and that the instruments of the state need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and used for the benefit and advancement of the... Big business is a pejorative term referring to large corporations alleged to have disproportionate political and economic power, or otherwise be faceless, selfish, and indifferent to the needs of the general public. ... Public is of or pertaining to the people; belonging to the people; relating to, or affecting, a nation, state, or community; opposed to private; as, the public treasury, a road or lake. ... Big labor is a term used to describe large organized labor unions, particularly in the United States. ...

ECONOMIC ASPECTS / The effects on wealth of big government interferance:

• EU: Causes of GDP Growth differentials in Europe