The whole thing boils down to the human tendency to "go overboard" in one way or another, to pursue excesses, whether we would embrace any political ideology to excess, personal goals, analysis....it isn't the pursuit but it is the EXCESSive pursuit which is our own blemish.
A perfect example was Nazi Germany. The socialist reforms that Hitler sought arose from the poverty and suffering of the German people in post WW 1 times, wen hyper inflation led to starvation.
Now socialism is good in itself because socialism is basically about looking after your neighbor as if you were he. But you can see what happened when it was pursued to excess as in Russia and Germany...millions more died as a result of what became a twisted form of government which fed upon that which it sought to protect, the working people.
We see the same things in North America about capitalism. In itself, it has good merits when exercised in moderation, where only good ideas and products thrive in a fair marketplace and cheap, decrepit or just plain stupid ideas and goods are permitted to fail, for the benefit of the consumer.
But what happens when the focus becomes constrained and is permitted to dwell solely upon money and profits? Enron comes to mind....unrestrained greed gets a foothold, the original purpose is lost or perverted, and again, millions suffer as a result.
Moderation in all things, including analysis and exercise of action and government may be the only action which can restrain the tendencies of our very human appetites (for justice, against injustice, for purity, for literally anything really) to grow to tyrannical proportions and consume what we care about.
