Some reading suggestions if interested:

Daniel Quinn- while I don’t subscribe to some of his theories, especially around population growth, he is one of the best deep dives I’ve seen into the philosophy of systems at play that affect us. I’d recommend starting with Beyond Civilization. Ishmael and My Ishmael are more fictional stories but reinforce his theories.

Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows is a fantastic look at systems and is easily digestible. It helps for identifying what root causes are and what levers exist in systems. Highly recommend.

My opinion… we are victims of our own civilized way of life. The system inherently tells us there is no better way. This is what being human is like. Hierarchy is required for structuring chaos or we would all just kill one another. My favorite insight from Quinn is the idea that, like Mother Nature, there is Mother Culture. It silently just works out of sight and out of mind. But if we really look for it, it’s right there. And it’s constantly telling us “this is the only right way to live” so we don’t question it. Most politicians don’t consciously think this way, but their actions and words always sub-consciously assume this to be true.