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That's how all wealthy civilizations end.
The central problem is that hierarchical systems reward and thus select for psychopathy.
People with principles, morals, ethics, empathy and/or integrity will have choices they will not make - courses of action they will not follow, no matter the potential rewards. Psychopaths and sociopaths are not similarly constrained - they're willing to do absolutely whatever it takes to succeed. So they will always have an advantage in hierarchical systems.
Additionally, once they gain power, they will generally arrange things such that it's easier for them to hold power, which not coincidentally makes it easier for other psychopaths and sociopaths to gain and hold power.
Of course, with psychopaths and sociopaths in power, the civilization begins to decline. At that point, there are two broad choices - to reform the system or to warp the system to protect the privilege of the psychopaths. Naturally, the psychopaths choose the latter.
So they find themselves in a situation in which the civilization is in decline due to their actions and they're determined to keep doing what they were already doing. So they need a diversion so that they avoid the blame for the damage they're doing. And that's actually fairly easy since there are a great many people who can sense thst the civilization is in decline, but who are too stupid and angry to sort out who really deserves the blame. And all the psychopaths have to do then is isolate some unpopular fringe group(s) and tell the stupid and angry peiple that it's all their fault, then the psychopaths can stay their destructive course while the stupid and angry people fight with whichever group(s) they've been pointed at.
And that's exactly where the US is today.
I'd argue this isn't limited to just the US.
that's exactly the opening thesis
And I'd agree.
So what's the alternative? Non-hierarchial societies don't really exist, and if they do, in smaller tribes, they get infiltrated or destroyed by larger societies.
Occasionally reminding the people at the top that if they don't behave then they won't live very long.
Constantly improving the big compromise. No one size fits all. Constant work. Not only in the government, but also in people's heads.
Keeping the checks and balances in place. Finding loopholes and fixing them - if need be with more checks and balances.
Yes, a stable and relatively just state will always require administration. Be sure it doesn't all fall into one person's hand.
But the USA lost all this decades ago. Frankly, it's a miracle that it took so long for a president to take full advantage.
GET RID OF BILLIONAIRES
Create a society where you ban extreme wealth.
You allow people to gain wealth, as much as they want but you create an upper ceiling .... like say 100 million. Beyond that, any further wealth you create is just sent to the government as taxes and spent on public services and infrastructure and on other less fortunate people.
Wealth is also not inherited and when you die, a small part of your wealth is passed to your descendants but the majority is given over to the government to again be used for taxes, infrastructure and public services.
Humans will always be greedy bastards and there will always be people who will game the system in their favour for whatever psychotic or manic reason they have (similar to people with hoarding mentalities or people who collect cats or bottle caps) ... in this suggested society, people would still be allowed all the freedoms to fulfill their fantasies or manias within a controlled environment and not to the point where they are degrading all of humanity in the process.
UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME
And as you create an upper ceiling of wealth, you also create a lower floor of poverty ... you use all that extra money and institute Universal Basic Income and allow every able bodied human an equal opportunity to become as much of a greedy bastard as they want and start to gain their own wealth. Or they use their good start in life, generate a bit of wealth, get an education and find the cure for cancer. Imagine if we had thousands or even millions of scientists who no longer have to worry about making rent and instead spend their time trying to find cures for things or finding new solutions to the energy crisis or environmental problems like global warming.
Instead .... we have a world where we funnel all the wealth of the world to a small group of people who sit on it, defend it at all costs and send humanity to its doom while billions of people either starve, near starve or spend all their time and energy just barely getting by.
Good education is the main bulwark against this type of decline. Any political party that starts banning books, denigrating teachers, or cutting education funding should set off major alarms. Making people stupider is step one in the long game of authoritarian takeover.
We've only tried hierarchy with humans at the top.
Cats should be in charge.
I thought we were trying to move away from psychopathic leaders?
Maybe they haven’t been psychotic enough.
They're already in charge.
If humanity survives long enough (that's a big if), I believe that the establishment of non-hierarchical systems is inevitable.
Humanity, as it matures philosophically, sociologically and psychologically, will outgrow the desire for hierarchy exactly as individuals outgrow the desire to be parented.
For the time being though, there is no alternative. Virtually every civilization that's ever existed on Earth has already died in more or less this same fashion, and the ones that haven't yet will.
As a bit of an aside though, my opinion is that the first step has to be a dedicated public health effort to diagnose antisocial personality disorder and ensure, by whatever means necessary, that society is protected from those who suffer from it.
Hopefully that's something our descendants can do when they build whatever they're going to build out of the rubble we'll leave behind.
Democratic socialism
Very well said.