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Jan. 26th, 2026 03:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fridiIdeas that never worked
I’ve been thinking lately about why so many grand political visions, the ones that promise a perfect society, never actually deliver on their promise in the real world. From imagined egalitarian communities to sweeping revolutionary projects, history is full of schemes that sounded inspiring but stumbled on the realities of human behavior, power and governance. In theory, utopian politics appeals to our desire for fairness, justice and collective well-being. But in practice it often fails because it assumes that structures can be perfected first and people will magically fit into them second. Systems that ignore how power actually works tend to collapse or become something very different from what their creators intended. One article that captures this pattern is here, in case that interests you: https://everythingstudies.com/2022/09/24/why-utopia-fails/
What’s striking is how this dynamic plays out in today’s politics...
I’ve been thinking lately about why so many grand political visions, the ones that promise a perfect society, never actually deliver on their promise in the real world. From imagined egalitarian communities to sweeping revolutionary projects, history is full of schemes that sounded inspiring but stumbled on the realities of human behavior, power and governance. In theory, utopian politics appeals to our desire for fairness, justice and collective well-being. But in practice it often fails because it assumes that structures can be perfected first and people will magically fit into them second. Systems that ignore how power actually works tend to collapse or become something very different from what their creators intended. One article that captures this pattern is here, in case that interests you: https://everythingstudies.com/2022/09/24/why-utopia-fails/
What’s striking is how this dynamic plays out in today’s politics...
