Maybe the Government should do something about it!!!
Seriously, you are right - we in the Western World dug ourselves a hole, and now we have difficulty getting out of it.
A cat will wean her kittens, because it's her nature to do so, but the State won't wean it's citizens (subjects?), becuase it's not in it's nature (or interest) to do so, and only few citizens will do it by themselves, for themselves.
>> ... the State won't wean it's citizens...
This is what Jefferson most feared, that the citizens would abdicate self-governance upon their discovery that they could, through their representatives, vote themselves eligible recipients of the largesse of the Federal government. He had great reservations at this point, and our history most powerfully demonstrates the validity of his fears. Indeed, we have travelled the very path he dreaded that we would take.