For people who claim to not wish to be governed by elites, both the current and the mid-last-century "populists" certainly seem eager to follow leaders!
cf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Frogs_Who_Desired_a_King
cf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Frogs_Who_Desired_a_King
Re: Snakes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Farmer_and_the_Viper
[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=boss+vs+leader+memeThat was fun. Not heard that since I was about 5.
Seeing it now, Thomas Hobbes spent about two volumes on the same story and gave us the "social contract". The log is the social safety net. The snake is the ever present threat of violence, "at our own request and for our own good".
They made exalted ridiculous promises to the public as an excuse to acquire more power for themselves. At the other end of the spectrum, Populism seeks to directly distribute power.
Perhaps you're thinking about anarchism or communism.