Having lived the first 35 years of my life almost entirely in conservative states: "limited government" means "government won't bother you as long as you act like a good conservative, but once you stop acting like a good conservative all bets are off".

We're seeing this openly practiced in places like Missouri and North Carolina, where the state legislatures advocate for limited government right until the moment a city in the state passes something whose social implications they disagree with. Then, as if by magic, a new state law appears to override the city policy or strip away the city's power to have such a policy.