The charade is wearing thin and people are noticing

[DFW]

16. A rose by any other name, as the Bard would say.

ALL systems tend to have their elites. The more dogmatic the system, the more tightly its elite insists on control. Laissez-faire capitalism will have the luckiest rise to the top. A regulated capitalism (e.g. a social democracy) will have its cleverest rise to the top. Socialism in just about any form tends to have its cruelest rise to the top, always using equality as a phony cover for its elite claiming absolute power, “looking out for the people.” Whether Soviet Socialism, National Socialism, “goulyás” socialism, probably “Democratic” Socialism too, if it should ever come to power somewhere. Countries claiming to be “socialist” invariably end up becoming countries that people flee, not countries where they run to seek sanctuary. It sounds great on paper, never works out in practice.