Abraal (asker) May 26, 2018:

Thanks for your comments :) The links were very clarifying as well as all of your comments. Phil, now that I think about it, the term I was looking for was "stronger", not "more aggressive." Neil, "A stonking great government" is a great option, but I think I'll go with "big government".
Thank you all.

neilmac May 26, 2018:

Agree I think that in polite English discourse, we (excuse the royal) tend to prefer understatement and euphemism to hyperbole, although the other options are always available.

Charles Davis May 25, 2018:

Perhaps worth mentioning... That this is not about the current political situation in Spain. It's from a blog post written ten years ago by Joaquín Leguina, formerly PSOE President of Madrid, and is about the Zapatero period. He's pretty obviously getting at Zapatero, despite being in the same party.

I agree with what Neil said about the only way of capturing this being colloquial: a piddling little government (negligible, contemptible, inept) versus a bloody great big government (intrusive, overbearing, unwieldy). But by making the connotations explicit you destroy the effect. It just can't be done.

neilmac May 25, 2018:

The current Spanish government is hanging on by a thread, severely damaged by corruption cases and the independence lobby in Catalonia, among other things, and is being propped up by the recently formed Citizen's party (C's), which is a sort of mini-me of the traditionally right wing, post-franco “Popular Party” (PP).
The idea of those slightly to the left is that a larger coalition , for example of the PSOE (nowadays a socialist party in name alone, and also beset by corruption and internal divisions) and the newly-formed Podemos (new lefties) might be able to form a stronger, more viable alternative, perhaps with the help of C’s, however unlikely this may be, given that they never seem to be able to form a united front on anything for more than a few days at a time).
I could go on for hours about this, but this afternoon I have other fish to fry.

neilmac May 25, 2018:

Also ..a lot of people in the USA get (bigly) incensed at the mere thought of a central government, as I'm sure you are aware.

neilmac May 25, 2018:

Phil I'm almost bilingual now and find it easier to express this by swearing. "A stonking great government" might work... but I think English can make do with big/small, however impassioned one might get about the political situation in question :)

Taña Dalglish May 25, 2018:

Agree with Phil. So Abraal, what do you mean by a term that is a "little more aggressive"?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_government
Big government is a term used to describe a government or public sector that is excessively large and unconstitutionally involved in certain areas of public policy or the private sector. The term may also be used specifically in relation to government policies that attempt to regulate matters considered to be private or personal, such as private sexual behavior or individual food choices. The term has also been used in the context of the United States to define a dominant federal government that seeks to control the authority of local institutions—an example being the overriding of state authority in favor of federal legislation.

http://www.renewamerica.com/analysis/garry/110614
The meaning of big government

philgoddard May 25, 2018:

I didn't realise you were a native Spanish speaker. Maybe you could tell us what it means to you.

Abraal (asker) May 25, 2018:

Thank you :) I'm not sure how to explain it, but I the idea of "Gobernazo" is a little more aggressive than "big government", though it is a good option.

philgoddard May 25, 2018:

It means "big government" But I don't know enough about Spanish politics to understand its full significance here.