A great patriot and firebrand named Thomas Paine may have said it best.
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again." (Thomas Paine, "Common Sense," 1776)
These are true words from a true patriot.
Here is my take. This nation was founded because of two things; economic and personal liberty. These two things were to be tempered by our morality otherwise greed and lust for power would become the new religion.
Today we allow our government to regulate our economic and personal freedom to the point of reflecting the ideals of socialism while it simultaneously marches to the battle cry of saving our "democracy" (no one dares use the term republic any more).
How can this be? Well, as long as people are content to sacrafice their liberties to the government in return for material wealth and "security" we will continue to subsidise those that are solely driven by their thirst for power and wealth at our expense.
Actually, the Founders of our Republic, while certainly cherishing those objectives, had a broader view than that:
U.S. Constitution. Preamble.
We the People of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect Union,....