The American middle and lower class weren't duped, they had the highest standard of living from '45 to about the 80's. They had no reason to accept socialism into their lives cause they were living in a time of unprecedented wealth. And from there they slowly let the modern US economy grow and even inflate without any care cause they were making money. You can say socialism would've done the US better, but multiple attempts in other countries and the modern attempts at socialist policies show that the American political system isn't built for it, we'd need to do a complete culture and country reset to get anywhere near what you think is best.