Where in hell do you get the idea that regulation helps big business, let alone that big corporations are hard over for the GOP?
Because bigger business with in-depth logistics and larger profit margins can adjust to regulations.
Let's say I have two acres of land, I decide to use it to raise a couple of cows to sell milk. Oh wait, I can't because my milk isn't certified by the FDA and I don't have whatever licenses needed to sell milk.
I've read stories of police closing down children's lemonade stands in CA because they didn't have a license. I'm pretty sure reasonable people would know that buying lemonade from a 10 year old for $0.50/cup is not going to be from a licensed vendor.
In NYC, people who have an extra bedroom have started posting on a site to offer their couch for like $50 a night as an alternative to $500/night hotel rooms. The website offered tons of reviews so that you knew people were legit. But the hotel industry got wind of it and now the NYC government is trying to stomp it out because these people don't have commercial hotel licenses purchased through the city/state. Similar to the lemonade stands, I'm fairly certain people who decided to sleep on someone's couch for a night know that they're not staying in a government certified hotel and decided to take the risk anyway.
Another NYC issue: a company wanted to start a luxury taxi service (basically charge taxi prices for rides in a towncar), but got told by city government that they weren't allowed to. They had to either run the same yellow taxis as everyone else or charge limo prices!
Regulations provide a higher entry barrier to industry and stifle innovation, which protect well-established businesses and keep prices high. You seem to acknowledge when you said this:
Small business, farmers and ranchers that can't improve property or access.
On a local regulatory level, you frequently have more corruption which is probably what are driving businesses to your state.
If the GOP had their way a few years ago and started regulating internet commerce, we wouldn't have smartphone apps at $0 - $2.99/each today and Microsoft wouldn't have been taking a beating from the mobile/tablet market and its wide range of apps. The internet is one of the last places where a small guy who knows how to program can enter a big market and make a killing.
How is that good for any business big or small? The EPA wants to regulate coal plants out of business. Believe what you want about climate change but that is not good for coal plant owners or employees.
But it is good for natural gas, solar and nuclear technologies, which is what Obama is trying to promote, even though they cost more per kw/hour.
Someone always benefits from these regulations, and it's usually not the consumer.
You can't argue above that the GOP basically wants a free for all where everyone fends for themselves and then argue that they promote a massive regulation bureaucracy.
I never said that the GOP wants a free-for-all. The GOP will support regulations that assist its contributors, and so will the Democrats.