American love their PORK too much (and that includes most Republicans/conservatives). As long as they can bribe with their votes the elected representative to Congress to bring home the pork to their State or district, we will have humongous Federal government.
The problem is not the government, the politicians or constitutional interpretation but, as you point out, the PEOPLE. We have the government the PEOPLE wanted.
Until the people actually understand American history and our system there will be no change.
We need another president like Reagan who knew how to use the media (having been a major part of it for 25 yrs prior to becoming a politician) and could thwart its lies. There is no one with that talent on the horizon. So we have to take what we get.