That there isn't a good solution that's permanent. I guess I have the Buddhist view of things, that all things end. It seems like having some way of organizing ourselves that survives cyclical growth and collapse is best. We expect our society to live in a perpetual spring/summer of growth and warmth, when historically societies had long wave form seasons of growth, stasis, and death that repeats endlessly.

The closest thing I know of historically is a theocracy since there's a hard limitation on the scope of government ("it is forbidden to do X! It is written in our fancy holy texts"!) and society is self regulating and self policing. It's why they can last thousands of years despite being so rigid and stiflng (that's actually the primary feature for their long term stability not a bug)

And in case it isn't obvious I'm not advocating for a theocracy either lol... It's just the longest lived example that keeps being repeated worldwide.

I guess I'm arguing for a realistic view that incorporates the reality of humanity. Capitalism seems great and like it works well during its growth stage but eventually eats itself and fucks everyone except like a group of 300 global capitalists. Communism seemed to follow a similar lifecycle of "looks great at first... Oh shit." As things get captured and corrupt.

One thing we all fall victim to is the view that "if not A, then B as an alternative" when the answer might be "there is no long term answer" which is uncomfortable to sit with and goes against the grain of our worldview that with enough human enginuity (and especially fossil fuels burned!) we can move literal mountains and do whatever we think of.

I think the answer is literally the Buddhist third way. Constant growth and evolution. If you put everything into strict written laws now the goal is finding loopholes. If nothing is written down you don't have rules and anything goes. Both extremes lead to bullshit behaviour through different pathways. It's kind of what democracy is supposed to provide as an ideal. The constant tension between the establishment and the left who try to incorporate disenfranchised groups and to bend the establishment into new shapes is it doesn't ossify. Except even that gets captured by capital.