With many nuances, there are two basic character types among people. One represents the unfortunate result of millennia of aristocratic autocratic rule. This character type, when in high-ranking positions, is often obsessed with representation, dominant, and lacking in empathy; when in lower positions, they are subservient and compliant.
In middle positions, both behavioral tendencies are combined: authoritarian towards those below them, subservient towards those above—a proverbial "Cyclist mentality."
Among these compliant individuals, a minority group, namely those of the free and independent-thinking character type, has a difficult time. These people are neither inclined to submit unconditionally to incompetent or presumptuous authorities, nor do they feel the (socially harmful to sociopathic) desire to patronize, oppress, and exploit others.
The modern democracy established with American independence in 1776 offered the chance to break the rule of individuals with autocratic ambitions and to enter a new era of fair development for free people. But a financial elite has succeeded in turning a cadre of morally weak "cyclists" into compliant helpers in their global empire of large banks, corporations, media outlets, NGOs, and other organizations. https://www.frieden-freiheit-fairness.com/en/blog/blackrock-takes-over-wef-you-will-own-nothing-and-be-happy-now-hands-financial-elite
An establishment comprised of politicians, artists, media professionals, and senior corporate executives, among others, has quietly developed into a well-paid caste of functionaries within democratic structures. The system stabilizes itself by bullying free-thinking (and inevitably more or less critical) individuals from the circle of the financial elite's conformist, politically "correct" followers.
This continuation of medieval aristocratic rule in a new guise is reflected in people's behavior. The arrogance of the powerful tolerates no criticism. Since there is no pressure for self-criticism, no genuine responsibility is assumed. Subordinates, in particular, are even less likely to take responsibility. They can most easily practice their unconditional obedience when they assume no responsibility for their actions and instead assign it to those of higher rank.
Stanley Milgram's experiments have demonstrated the alarming extent of the resulting lack of accountability already in the 1960s. https://trainerwissen.blog/milgram-experiment/
These psychological mechanisms threaten the very foundations of liberal civilization. For those with independent convictions, who could stabilize the social system with their unbiased judgment on a course of idealistically practiced democracy and accountability, are kept away from decision-making positions by the conformist establishment. As one of the few politicians of this independent type, former German Health Minister Horst Seehofer made the refreshingly candid statement in the 2010 television series "Pelzig unterhält sich" (Pelzig Talks): "Those who decide are not elected, and those who are elected have nothing to decide."
If the blatant absurdities of current politics, including the warmongering that is glossed over by the mainstream media, do not trigger a great awakening among democratic citizens now, the era of liberal democracy is nearing its end. What comes next can already be read on the websites of the financially backed "world improving" NGOs. For between the lines, an Orwellian UN dictatorship with structural similarities to the failed socialist experiments*) is emerging. This amounts to a global puppet show in which the strings of power lie even more firmly in the hands of a financial aristocracy, its banks, corporate oligopolies, media, and NGOs than they already do. https://www.frieden-freiheit-fairness.com/en/blog/beware-historic-crossroads
*) Economic and political power are concentrated in the same hands – there is no separation of powers. Decision-makers are appointed from above, not elected from below. A career depends primarily on political loyalty and uncritical conformity, less so on professional expertise. – This opportunistic mentality is similar to that of the Second German Empire, as depicted in Heinrich Mann's socially critical novel "The Loyal Subject" from 1914/1918. https://www.dw.com/en/heinrich-mann-the-loyal-subject/a-44626805