Downward spiral to socialism

Are we headed down a downward spiral to socialism? Much of the public is uneducated and indifferent to the political system and process. In addition, the demographic trends of our society (urbanization, social, and economic classes) are leading us toward socialism.

To add to these trends, voters seem to vote with their short term interest (tax cuts) as opposed to the long term views such as reducing the deficit, solving the oncoming social security crisis, or building a new energy infrastructure that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil. None of these long term problems can be solved without government intervention and cash.

But our system seems to support a short term view. How can the government take a long term view when the leadership changes every four years. National problems last longer than four years.

Historically citizenship had rights but those rights were balanced with responsibilities. Look at the French Revolution, citizens were required to serve in the army, creating the mass armies of the Napoleonic Era. How does this compare to the current situation in the US? What do we as a nation expect of our citizens other than paying taxes? What happened to the days of JFK when he said "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." Our country today has a selfish attitude as opposed to a selfless attitude of service; an attitude of entitlement (the government needs to solve this problem for me) as opposed to an attitude of responsibility and self-reliance (I need to solve my own problems, the government is only there as a safety net).

As long as our citizens continue to vote with their short term interests and refuse to recognize the inherent responsibilities of a citizen in a democracy our country will continue this downward spiral to socialism.