You cannot have freedom without a large majority of citizens who take responsibility for themselves and consider it a matter of honor to not impose costs/externalities on others. If the citizenry becomes corrupt, authoritarianism will follow in order to prevent anarchy.

It is risky and not accurate to idealize the past. There was never a time in American history when the citizenry was universally responsible, but I believe that we are reaching new lows on that measure today. It is a cultural problem and no one seems to want to think about it.

The central premise of America is that we are all responsible for ourselves and our actions, that we do not look to government for every need, that citizens and local communities take center stage. We have steadily moved away from that to centralization and it has taken a toll.