Minor nit (sorry!) but rural folks mainly want limited government – a lot of their other arguments stem from that. They tend to not like power or authority and want to be left alone. (Perhaps to commit their own power abuses!)
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.
Most will say limited gov and then in the same breath talk about how Christianity should be enforced as the nation's official religion, and how 2A laws should be expanded upon, both requiring bigger gov.
Any law pertaining to firearms, because most believe the "liberals" are coming for their guns, so the further right the laws are, the more ground there is to fight.
For example, Idaho recently passed a "Constitutional Carry" law which allows anyone who legally owns a firearm to conceal it, without any training or permits. Previously, a background check and conversation with your local sherif was required to obtain a Concealed Weapon License. This barrier was low, and I'd never heard of anyone being denied, but apparently it was too invasive. I exercised my right to this prior (licensed) and after the change, and feel it wasn't a logical change.
Now there is no such law.
I sincerely don't understand how you can view the removal of a law as "bigger government."
There are libertarians in rural areas who really want limited government--they exist.
But they are vastly outnumbered by cultural conservatives, who want to use the government to shape the country into a version of what they think existed in the 1950s.