Actually, I wouldn't be hard pressed to say that. If I had said that it was exclusively the result of government, then I'd be saying something even more nonsensical than what's been said by the folks who actually think that government dysfunction is a path to success.

1. The increased government spending on infrastructure and social structure reduces private spending on infrastructure and social structure, freeing up that capital to be spent on other projects, or even enabling projects that could not be considered previously.

While we are facing a number of problems related to deep dependency on petroleum now, the Eisenhower Interstate Highway system revolutionized cargo transit. In general, greater spending on the highway system from the federal level required that states and municipalities spend more keeping their connecting roads up to date—to the point of paving more roads that had previously not been paved, increasing commercial access to everyone in general.

I've made the point some time ago, but increased social spending allows businesses to exist that would not otherwise exist precisely because of that social spending. In economically depressed areas, there will be people employed because recipients of social spending have funds that they would not otherwise have available.

While it is true that at times government gets in the way of progress, it is not generally because of an activist government looking out for the welfare of all of its citizens, but rather because of a conservative (meaning trying to preserve the status quo, not a political stance per se) government protecting the interests of an elite class. Both sorts of government can exist at the same time in a single administration.

2. The federal government has been the greatest force operating in favour of civil rights for about 150 years, although with a spotty record. The most recent failures exist primarily because of recidivist views about the nature of civil rights, primarily embodied in the views of the Roberts court and current (2010–2013) Tea Party Republicans. State governments, on the other hand, have by and large been powerful forces acting against civil rights that have been forced to act differently because of federal government intervention. Any argument otherwise had best be backed fairly heavily by reputable evidence, because that's the history.

3. I would appreciate that you not argue against a straw-man. I never said that the past was always civil. I said that the divisions that have existed in the past have never lasted this long and been this deep; they have (once) been deeper to the point of war, but most of those divisions have (i) been fairly short, limited to one or two sessions of congress, and (ii) not impeded the rest of the operation of government in any meaningful way. Even McCarthyism didn't break government the way that recent events have. Bills were still passed, and the business of government moved forward at a better pace than you would imagine.

4. Check your history again. IIRC, the monetary crises of the 1890s and the 1920s–1930s were caused in no small part by improvements to productivity (rapid industrialization, etc.) and technology (trains, cars, etc.) and low interest rates, as well as extremely loose regulatory environments. Both can be fixed by taking taxation seriously and not pretending that it is an evil thing, as far too many modern politicians and internet libertarians do.