How much government control?

What and how much should government control? According to these circles, we currently have socialism-lite. Not quite Europe, but getting there. In my life time, the federal government has taken over education and energy, Social Security was Depression era, whereas for my grandparents it was just roads, police, military, courts. All else was handled privately or by churches and group associations (usually ethnic or religious to protect their own groups like Lutheran Swedes) with homes for elderly and orphans, or there was some at the county level of government, for instance, my grandmother received benefits for the blind from her county. The control is getting tighter, squeezing out private initiative. If you look at employed blacks, they have lowest small business, and highest government employment but still have the highest unemployment and dependency on government. This template has left out prisons, always for the state, and a huge industry.

Keep in mind, the biggest killer of citizens is not war with other countries, but death by government.