Big government is quite useless. Even in America, Obama and Cuomo both failed to stock up on virus response necessities. Politicians are idiots.
Not useless if/when they are limited, by definition not big. The US Constitution did very well in creating a limited, self-checking government doing the things that were required to be a nation. Internal Travel & Trade, Defense, International Relations & Commerce etc. The 'Federal' concept was that the States handled their affairs internally and devolved smaller things down the line.
It is when we got rich and progressive that things started to go awry. I mark the turning point when the peace-time US Government started to have more employees outside of the Post Office than within. Also when the 17th Amendment emasculated the Federal State Legislators power over the US Senate in 1913. The final bell was rung when FDR went after the US Supreme Court in the 1930s. While he failed to pack the court, he forced it to get into line with big government and making the 9th & 10th Amendments almost 'dead letters'!
Now, like for Covid and everything else, the citizens expect THE GOVERNMENT to protect and fix everything and anything. Katrina was the fault of Bush'43, Portland riots are because of Trump. It reminds me of the truism of executive power, once you make a rule you can never release it or forget it, it is always your responsibility.
It is because they make their decisions based on how many votes they can buy with their tax revenues, versus using it to buy important items that you may not need at the moment.
#Pray