On the Fact that In the Years and Decades Prior to WW1, the U.S. Federal Government Was Exceedingly Limited In its Size and Scope, and it Was Only During and After this Hideous Conflict (Not to Mention Those that Followed) that the Central Leviathan Mushroomed Gradually and Inexorably to the Huge Behemoth Which We Currently Recognize

Yep, war is the health of the state (that axiomatic conclusion first proclaimed by the great Randolph Bourne), indeed (it's also pretty damned "healthy" for certain corporations like Raytheon, Exxon, and Boeing, but I digress).