Equality and democracy are not natural states. Authoritarian hierarchy is. Back in the 60s, there was a Romantic view that people were basically good. That given what they needed and left alone, they would automatically gravitate toward kindness and compassion. That view carried on into todays' various 'progressive' ideologies. The idea that everyone, from small children to old people with dementia, should have a voice, should have agency, should not be made to do things, but allowed to find their own path.

That's false. The horde of dimwitted, criminal-minded layabouts that constitute between 90 and 95% of humanity need to be told how to behave. They want to be told how to behave, because unless they are, they have to consider the consequences of their actions, and they lack the ability to do so. That's what opens the door to the Trumps and Putins. The ones who tell people what's 'right and proper' in simple, declarative sentences. Of course, the definition if 'right and proper' is a subjective one, but the mob doesn't know that, doesnlt want to know that. They just want to be told what to do. Or shown, by people they look up to. But the people they look up to now are corrupt, or damaged, or just unworthy. And the wheel turns...