Not really. 1950-1960 was thoroughly the modern world: http://peakwatch.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83452403c69e2017d40f40b.... Federal sending was 16-18% of GDP from 1952-1967. From 1995 to 2008 it was 18-22%. So a little smaller, but not "much" smaller. It spiked above that in 2008 because of the recession, but you can hardly blame federal spending that happened after the recession for having caused it.
