The answer to your puzzlement is in a recent poll: 37% of the electorate has a positive view of socialism. Ironic part of that is about 40% of electorate does not pay any income tax and supports the notion the rich should pay more.
Seems to me, both numbers go hand in hand and point to where we are headed in the US unless some miracle pulls us out of it. On a historical note, most believe that only about a third of the populace supported the Founders...a Third the King and the rest were unconcerned. Perhaps it is time for the majority who do not support socialism to begin the miracle now before it is too late. Vote the Bolshevics out or throw them out is my advice.
Although the recent election in MA gives me some measure of hope, I'm still skeptical of the voting process for a timely solution. The socialist 'Rats control the election apparatus in many places, and when that is the case the hope for honest elections fades. And as we've seen with Odumbo, it doesn't take too long for the 'Rats to inflict serious, perhaps fatal damage. I mean, $105 billion in interest payments alone on one month (Dec. 2009)?! Obama is crashing the system to grease the skids for a socialist revolution (a modified Cloward-Piven approach, destroy wealth and capital first).