Republicans have long been advocates of big government, but they want to confine the benefits of such a government to their wealthy donor class and leave average Americans to the whims of a Darwinian "boot straps" social order. Such a system is not sustainable in any real democratic order that is based upon a rule of law that is consistent across racial and socio-economic lines. It can only exist where business is assumed to be the "source" of the money that denominates commerce and where the population is dependent upon business and the need for "jobs" in the society that perpetuate profits.
In order to protect the privilege of the donor class they have subverted the perceived reality of the purpose of government (government as a service) with massive spending on propaganda that has convinced most Americans that socialism is in some way evil and not consistent with the values of the people. They then only had to present any government effort to make the lives of Americans better as "socialist" to garner support of those who lack basic reasoning skills or are susceptible to manipulation. The seeking of Evangelical Christians as an important part of the Republican voter base was not by accident.
One of their biggest successes has been the misrepresentation of our government's finances, how it provisions itself and pays for programs for the common welfare. The concept of "taxpayer dollars" as the funding source of our government was skillfully introduced in the '70s and capitalized on during RayGun's campaign in '80, and it has stuck in the minds of most Americans since then. This introduces the "payfor" factor in any spending bill before Congress and makes deficits something to be feared at all costs, even to the extent of abandoning the ability of government to act as a force for good.
Americans, once known well for their willingness to share in the prosperity they were blessed with, became quite selfish and narcissistic when confronted with the potential that "they", not their government, were the benefactors of those less fortunate. It was really an easy transition to make, given that the average American had to "get" their money from an employer and also had to pay taxes on their wages. The assumption, although entirely incorrect, that their government was reliant upon those taxes, or borrowing from rich people, to spend for the public purpose became the driving force for American politics, as well as almost all economic thought among the voting population.
While productivity is critical to an economy, the definition of that is much more aligned with the happiness of the citizens than it is with the success of the corporations/employers. The all but complete lack of any real social safety net makes Americans particularly dependent upon those corporations to an extent that wouldn't be tolerated in most modern countries. This is further reinforced by the equally lacking government services, such as advanced education or health care that other nations take for granted. The fact that those nations are surpassing us in any realistic measure of outcome is entirely lost on a population that equates freedom with the lack of those services universally. America will likely remain stupid and sick because of this and won't enjoy real prosperity again until it comes to grip with the monopoly source of its money, its federal government.
