How Did We Get Here?

I haven't thoroughly thought this post out and researched a bunch of great quotes so that I don't end up sounding like the ding dong that I am, but I figure that if I do that I will never get around to it. Since all my posts go into a paper journal for posterity, I didn't want this to go unmentioned.
My question? How did we get here? Meaning, where we are as a society today in 2010. I feel like I have become some super freak protector of the constitution. In everything I see and do I look for evidence that people still know who they are and where they came from and where our "rights" come from. The perversion of charity and that the source of our rights is from the government terrifies me. I am so grateful for events like 8/28 where I can see and hear from people of the same ideals. Why have we let ourselves be talked into bondage for what we are being sold as security? Why do we not think that the people in our government are capable of misusing the funds they are entrusted with. Look at CA. That town where the city council members stole millions of dollars from the people is not an isolated incident. What do we do? Continue to give them more money and more power. They screw things up and then sell us a load of crap about it being someone else's fault. Their solution? Give them more money and power so they can fix what they screwed up. Sounds like the definition of insanity to me.
We have also been lead to believe that whatever station we are born into in life is where we will stay forever and we shouldn't have to do anything about it. We are too weak and too stupid to fight for the American dream so we should be able to just take it from someone who has it. It's only fair, right? The "haves" owe everything they have to the "have nots." I believe that Charity is the pure love of Christ, but it is my responsibility to give of my own free will and choice. I should not have my agency taken away from me and be enslaved to the government who keeps taking and needing more money under the guise of helping the little guy. This is a pattern we have seen repeat itself over and over again since the beginning of time. Look through the Bible and the Book of Mormon to see what was considered bondage of the people. Why are we so dense? We are here to work by the sweat of our brow, not sit around collecting money for things we have not earned. We are breeding incapability and a serious lack of self reliance. Even a pop star has an inkling of the truth behind that in the lyric "you have to give what you take" and "I don't belong to you, and you don't belong to me....."
Like I said, I haven't completely formulated everything that I want to say, but I think I can sum it up by saying: Come on people, wake up! We are quickly moving down the path of a life of servitude and extreme poverty for all. It isn't spreading the wealth, it's spreading the poverty except for the elite in power! (there are plenty of great chick ficks with this scenario if you need a reminder of how sucky that is)
There. Hopefully I didn't sound too much like a ding dong and there is no doubt in anyone's mind where I stand. :)