When Utopia Works Too Well

     When Utopia Works Too Well

 

When Utopia works too well, then the people forget what it was like before Utopia came to be, so they neglect the necessary upkeep, and the old ways return.

Related to this is the Marxian Paradox: when the capitalist class takes seriously Marx's predictions of mass immiseration leading to political unrest, then they pay for semi-socialist reforms: welfare statism, worker's rights, and unionism. These work; the nation prospers, unrest subsides... and eventually the capitalist class ceases to take Marx's warnings seriously. Then they defund and repeal the reforms, and mass immiseration returns. Therefore, to the capitalist class, Marx is as true a prophet as he is false. That’s the paradox.

Also related is anti-vax. Remember measles? Well, it’s back!