I think there is a natural progression as a society matures to socialize those areas of the economy where the free market has never really existed. When a society modernizes at a rapid rate, there will be a reactionary backlash.

What has happened is a backlash against modernization, putting people like Reagan and Bush into power, much like the Iranians responded to modernization by empowering the Ayatollahs, people who talk about the good old days and old time values. These people are very comforting to the masses traumatized by rapid progress, but they offer no real workable framework for a modern society, and usually are swept away after a few decades.

The country tried the Conservative thing and all we got was a couple of trillion in debt to show for it, now the people are moving back onto path of the New Deal and the Great Society, to the future and beyond.........

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“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address