We should place a hard cap on political ambitions like these. These utopians will be the end of us with their ridiculous schemes involving always what other people should do.
The best counter to these jumped-up mini-Mao's is to spread the power far and wide; to have lots of little decision-makers rather than a few grand ones; to have those little decision-makers make tons of small but important decisions every day, rather than trusting everything to one election every few years.
Getting lots of people to make lots of small decisions is not easy and the masses are not necessarily that sensible. Delegating decision making to a chosen representative is the least bad system seen so far, but has a way to go.
> the masses are not necessarily that sensible
is an absolutely toxic sentiment. "We, the smart ones, will decide for them" has led to disaster every time.
I want someone to who understands to make good decisions, and the ability to remove them if they start failing. How that’s best done from my perspective is with an electoral cycle that’s fine tuned such that results can be achieved, but that incumbents can’t rest.
For the few collective decisions that really do have to be made, regular elections are the only way to keep the decision-makers on their toes.
I'm with William F. Buckley on this one:
> “I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory,” he said, “than by the Harvard University faculty.”
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/10/31/telegovern/#google_...
Doubleplusungood crimethink?
- Bezos
- Musk
- et al
These can be removed by market power, even during their own lifetimes. I bet you anything that in a generation or two, their fortune will be mostly dissipated.
The vast majority of rich people are much less rich than these two; their money will dissipate even quicker. Most of them made their fortunes in their own lifetimes; many will lose it in the same timeframe. They have to keep performing economically (work + investment) to keep their money.
But: I will also bet you anything that in a generation or two, the state will be larger than it is today, and will have assigned to itself more rights and prerogatives, and will somehow have inserted itself into our daily lives in an even more intimate way, whether anybody likes it or not.