What enabled the US to survive the (previous) Great Depression, come out of World War II with the strongest economy and military in the world, expand that economy through three post war decades, and win the Space Race?   Big Government did, through: the New Deal Programs; the World War II military, civilian, and industrial programs; the GI Bill;and the NASA space programs, among others.  

What we have to avoid is not Big Government, but Bad Government, and currently we need Big Government to solve the Big Problems that we have inherited from Bad Government.