Looking at this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_governmen...

The USA is at 38%. That's pretty low compared to most EU countries (e.g. France or Italy are at 58%), even lower than Brazil or Japan. And Japan has no offensive military to throw money at.

in terms of things that the government provides to the public, absolutely. The US is incapable of doing anything other than through the military.