Sorry to sound like a broken record, Shmoopers, but it's time to talk "big government" once again.

The phrase "big government" (7.5) is probably one of the most impactful metaphors ever devised. The government is not literally big or small (but if you want to get technical, the number of people employed by it can be greater or lesser).

The government is merely an entity composed of individuals occupying various office buildings, but describing it as "big" or "small" and promising to "shrink" it makes it sound more like a tumor or some amorphous blob, like that black goo in Spider Man 3.

The "big" also carries the connotation of a threat, making the government sound like Godzilla or Big Brother from George Orwell's 1984. This is what the advocates of small government want. As far as attacking social programs and bureaucracy goes, this metaphor is a linguistic slam-dunk.