When you look just a little closer, the comparison breaks down completely. One key element of this is the lack of many things we now associate with "Big Government" -- or even any government at all -- in It's a Wonderful Life. By my count, the only government institutions that got any play at all in that movie were the U.S. military and the local police. George Bailey didn't even have a mail carrier employed by the U.S. Postal Service among his customer/friends. And even the buses were run by private companies back then!
George Bailey's approach to helping his fellow citizens has slowly disappeared from the American scene since the 1940s. When his customers are facing financial difficulties, he doesn't give them applications for food stamps, doesn't tell them how to sign up for free school lunches, and doesn't send them off to collect Social Security Disability benefits. He reaches into his own pocket and uses his own money to help them.
To take this one step further, just consider the one character of the movie who represents a complete disconnect between that era and modern, secular America: Clarence Oddbody, the guardian angel who is sent down from heaven to save George Bailey. He doesn't bring George the one thing that can help George out of the quandary that has driven him to despair (the $8,000 that has been misplaced from the bank's accounts). In fact, Clarence makes it clear that they have no use for money in heaven -- something we would do well to consider today in this age of underwater mortgages, trillion-dollar Federal deficits, and a nation sliding into disorder, decadance and despair.
Very good post