Yep. I certainly wouldn't want to go to war asking for donations if the other side can use a pen to put half the value of his country's money toward fighting me.

It's definitely a benefit--it just also has the potential to be abused.

And yet somehow America didn't lose WWII. This type of rhetoric (that we need big government to make decisions for us) scares me a little.

Also, people don't need to be altruistic saviors, they can buy bonds.

Nobody donated money (well, ok, maybe....), people bought treasury bonds of varying flavors, and intentionally devaluing your currency by "printing money" to pay for war expenses is essentially always the last thing you do before your government goes down in flames, one way or another---either you just lost the military war, or you destroyed your economy.