&gt; Today&#x27;s conservatives don&#x27;t believe in small government or reduced spending<p>Conservatism never meant small government and reduced spending, it has been(since both classical conservatism and classical liberalism were defined), protection of the interest of the status quo elites, typically by appeals to tradition, religion, and national identity.<p>Modern American political conservatism includes a lot of small government rhetoric because the status quo elites it protects are outside of government, and because it has sought to harness support for libertarian ideals and work it in favor of conservative politics. But there&#x27;s nothing <i>essentially</i> small government about conservatism, and the <i>idea</i> that the two are related is a fairly recent phenomenon.<p>&gt; Neo-conservatism changed all that.<p>Neo-conservatism is a bit weird, in its history (largely being founded by disillusioned ex-Trotskyites, and centering on global revolution vary similar to that supported by Stalinists, but with neoliberal economic systems and the US taking the role of Communist economic systems and the USSR) and other ways, but only had a brief moment (roughly corresponding with the George W. Bush presidency) as a dominant force in the broader scope of US conservatism; religious&#x2F;social conservatives supporting big government enforcing their particular social views have been a dominant force in American conservatism as long as there has <i>been</i> American conservatism, contrary to your idea of small government orientation as an essential feature of conservatism that has recently been lost in America due to &quot;neo-conservatives&quot;.