The #1 Big Government President Will Shock You
- Jeff Kellick
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
The #1 Big Government President Will Shock You
We ranked the five presidents who expanded the federal government further, faster, and more permanently than anyone else. This is not a list about who was most authoritarian — it is a list about the sheer size and reach of the government itself: who made Washington bigger, and made it stay that way. And the man who lands at #1 is almost certainly not who you think.
A Republican who froze wages and prices by decree. The president who built the entitlement state. The man who poured the concrete every later expansion stood on. And the president whose massive New Deal you are already picturing — the one most people would put at #1 — who only ranks #2 here. That should tell you how far this list goes before it reaches the top.
This is the Consequential Actions Weekly Top 5 — and this week is a deliberate bookend to last week's Most Libertarian Presidents.
The question underneath all of it: did this leave Americans more free, or more governed?
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction to the "Most Big Government Presidents"
01:20 Defining "Big Government": Size, Reach, and Permanence
02:21 Disclaimers: Big Government vs. Authoritarianism
03:07 #5 -
05:24 #4 -
07:16 #3 -
10:05 #2 -
12:21 Honorable Mentions
13:21 #1 -
16:52 The Common Thread: Crises, Power, and Permanence
17:42 Conclusion and Call to Action
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📊 The ranking framework (two-axis methodology): https://consequentialactions.com
🎙️ Full serialized title: Consequential Actions Weekly Top 5 :
The Top 5 Most Big Government Presidents in American History
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Consequential Actions is a libertarian, non-interventionist analysis of American constitutional and foreign policy. New episodes weekly.
📩 Substack: https://jeffkellick.substack.com
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