Most liberals, whether they admit it to themselves or not, envision themselves as the Queens, or at the very least potential Queens or mating drones. They envision a society in which the rest of us ‘workers’ are all equal under them. Every government that allows career politicians, whether it be an overt totalitarian system or not, winds up to some degree as the above. Every single one.
I am not saying in any way that I am for anarchy. I am not. I am for a republic system of the type that the founders envisioned, but with some important additional safeguards. No one should ever be allowed to spend more than a total of 12 years of their life in a paid political position in the US government, or working in the equivalent of an advisory position for anyone in office. No one. The preclusion from lobbying after holding elected office, or any other appointed position in any administration, should be at least 10 years after your last position - and violations should result in a mandatory 5 year prison sentence and a loss of all lobbying-associated money.
Oh, and voter fraud, including assisting or ignoring voter fraud that you personally witnessed, should also have a non-negotiable five year prison sentence, with loss of all personal voting rights for life.
While I agree with these, the biggest reason big government will always fail is because not all of us want to live like an ant colony or a bee hive, with our pre-defined roles and living under a hierarchy that doesn’t allow self-definition, free will, and the choice to live with or apart from the rest.
Let those who wish to live in cities decide what services they want, without federal subsidy. Let those who live in the country decide their government services and restrictions.
Let those who live in a condo complex decide their own rules when possible, not the city, county, state, or nation.