>So the reason Americans support a system that robs them blind is....
the same as why they eat fast food that makes them fat, sick, and ugly - it is there, readily available, conveniently packaged for easy consumption, and supported by custom or authority figures.
Getting information is costly, especially when that information pertains to reality that is not immediately accessible (e.g. the efficiency of social-economic institutions other than our own). Ideology substantially reduces that cost by providing fast food for thought - people take it because it does not require much of them to accept it. But once that ideology becomes socially accepted, questioning it is not only difficult, but quite dangerous as well (as the assorted dissidents can attest).
wojtek