Dreams Into Reality

"Why weren't we able to transform our dreams into reality? Why didn't we succeed in creating a society where everyone could be free and fulfilled? Who is to blame?"

It's a partial quote from the first installment of Pandora's Box, an Adam Curtis series I was checking out this morning. Some of his messaging I think is a little off, but let's be honest here: Pretty much, I ride Adam Curtis' jock.

So, this quote came at the end of a 1-hour documentary on the establishment of a socialist state in the soviet republic, and the scientific approach with which it was engineered, justified, and instituted.

I remember learning a long time ago that our republican representative democratic style of governance, as well as more communal socialist governance epitomized by the USSR were both born of the ashes of the French Revolution. It was a point that the prof. made in passing on his way to a larger conclusion about fratricide en route to genocide, so I didn't go back and ask for discussion about a precept of his argument, which actually was more of an aside. But I was motivated to learn about the French Revolution, and the basis for determining how a nation is to be run when a failing economy leads to a violent revolution, precluding monarchies from being a viable option. Rule by corporate oligarchies?

Public governance seems to follow this pattern of concentrating determinative power in the hands of an elite who, based on paternalism, malevolence, greed, righteous indignation, or charisma or some shit, make decisions for/on behalf of/informed by the general populace.

Over time these structures become more recalcitrant, and less accountable to those whom they govern. Seems that part of this process is the cabal of leaders "learning" that, if left to their own devices, the people would not necessarily act in their own best self-interest, and therefore need their leaders to make decisions for them which are difficult and unpopular. (This is long before corruption sets in; this is still assuming that leaders are trying to lead toward the betterment of society.)

So, fast forward a few years, a few hundred years, of a few thousand years, and there will be an uprising and an overthrow as The People demand justice in the form of a more representative governing structure.

Pure democracy is too unwieldy and inefficient for so many reasons, and representative leaders emerge, and the whole process begins anew. I think all of public governance, at least at the national level, can be reduced to a small group of people making decisions for a population that they would/could not make for themselves.

So, "Why weren't we able to transform our dreams into reality? Why didn't we succeed in creating a society where everyone could be free and fulfilled? Who is to blame?" No one. It's a mirage that we are destined to chase; a dream indefinitely deferred. We are driven to institute a governing body which maximizes social welfare for all of its citizens. But, as the scale of the economy grows, it becomes less probable until it hits impossible.

In fact, I'm just now realizing that the demands of effective governance often run contrary to meeting the needs/wants/desires of The People. The demands of "effective governance" require that leaders maintain control and subjugation of the people, even when leaders act against the will of The People. This requires controlling a people who initiated a campaign to become free.