Limited government means exactly what it sounds like, the government has a limit to what it is allowed to do. The system that the United States has, is that our government over time has been changed time and time again, we didn't want our government to have to little power or "teeth", that when a person or people disobeyed a law that they knew nothing would happen anyway. However our country at the same time did not want to be like Russia, a government whose people have no say in what goes on inside their own country. This is why the idea of limited idea of limited government was brought about, allowing the people with the majority of say in laws and actions taken, but the government often having the final say.