Is the concept of big government positive or negative?

Negative. The larger the government, the more tax money necessary to fund the government. This means less money in the pockets of citizens. This means less money for the private sector to create jobs (ie. small business owners). It's not good for the government to be in the business of job creation. You want the private sector to create the jobs. Otherwise, your tax money needs to pay for an increasingly large number of salaries.