The governments have all overreached to some degree, in the case of the pandemic I can understand it. Everyone is dazed and confused at something that hasn't happened in a century. Balance is all off.
I like the referee analogy. I've always been of this general mindset. The government should be barely noticeable background noise that we're all reminded of daily just to keep in check. Not constantly on the front page of the news, constantly battering us around like a fairground ride.
Though I just want to nitpick at this: If you feel a mask protects you, wear one - mask wearing is to protect others from you. it's like a home-made vaccine.
Sure, vaccines protect you personally from a virus, but far, far more importantly, is that it protects others from contracting the virus from you, thus mitigating spread. Same with masks.
But yeah big government is immensely stressful to watch from afar...and that's coming from me, living in a country where the government controls pretty much literally every aspect of everyone's lives (including how much toilet roll you can use in public restrooms, backed up by state-owned facial recognition software)