How did the New Deal change the role of the government?

The New Deal changed the role of government completely. Before
the New Deal, government had essentially no role in steering the economy or in providing for the
people. After the New Deal, the government has come to play a huge role in both of these
things.

Before the New Deal, the government was expected to be more
or less laissez-faire. It was supposed to just stay out of the way and let the economy rise or
fall "naturally." If people were too old to work, they needed to rely on family. If a bank
failed, its depositors were out of luck. The New Deal changed all of
that.

Since the New Deal, the government has started to take care of
us. It provides Social Security and Medicare for the elderly. It runs the FDIC to insure our bank
deposits. It lowers taxes and increases spending and does other things like that when the economy
goes into a recession.

Because of the New Deal, the government has
taken a huge role in the economy. This is something that simply was not the case before the New
Deal.