It doesn't work.

This is blatantly obvious. The part I haven't been able to figure out in all this time is what makes this idea so damn attractive to so many people.

The weird part is that people aren't visualizing themselves as the Great Leader or one of his court, which would at least be understandable, and has motivated many eventual tyrants.

But I've found so many people who simply want to live under such a system. Happily crawling over the barbed wire in the wrong direction. Seeking out the plantation and putting the shackles on themselves. What do they think they'll get out of this?

Are they all so bent that they will gladly be one of the shortest poppies forever as long as all those damn tall ones are mowed down around them? Nobody left to shove their own loser status in their faces? Is it that simple? Probably not.

There are plenty of people in formerly communist nations who seriously miss being the property of their rulers. Maybe they need to be studied more.