Unfortunately, most left leaning societies tend to go more left when confronted with losing their socialist perks. They just steal more from those that work and give to those that don't. And that pushes them futher into decline...until they eventually collapse. The US is not near collapse economically, so until that happens we won't see any real reform.
I guess that depends on what the meaning of "near" is.
If you include the US's off balance sheet unfunded liabilities (you know the same ones that turned Enron from the most admired company in America into a worthless bankrupt in less than a month) the US is six times closer to collapse than anybody believes. Beginning in 2008 there are going to be 78 million boomers that are going to be shocked to learn their SS checks may not be in the mail or may be worthless when they get them. Those same people will start learning what their Medicare "benefit" is worth to them in 2012. Younger Americans are going to be learning what the boomers' "benefits" could cost working Americans. By 2016, only three Presidential elections, possibly a single President from now, the US could collapse just as quickly as Enron or the Soviet Union.
All it takes is for enough people, and not just Americans any more, to realize that the US cannot possibly pay all that it owes! The only hope of avoiding this scenario is to elect enough conservatives to restore the Constitution before confidence in the full faith and credit of the US is lost. There is a small group of Freepers that believe they know how to do this. We are trying to get Jim Robinson to lead this effort.