I believe a social democracy would be the least dystopian. Many elements of social democracy give it the best chance for a non-dystopian society. Democracies allow the people to elect representatives and decide how they want to be governed. Governments in which people can’t have a say in what happens can easily result in those in power oppressing those that are not. In a social democracy, citizens are entitled to basic needs such as education, health care, and economic support for those in need. Providing education and health care to citizens reduces the wealth gap and helps keep people out of poverty. And providing economic support for those in poverty gives them a chance to become contributing, productive members of society. The Nordic countries – Sweden, Norway, and Finland – have social democracies. Interestingly, these countries are among those considered the happiest, and the United States, which has a capitalist system, is continually ranked lower than those that use social democracies.
Any government can be abused. One might think that the capitalist free-market system present in the U.S. offers the most freedom, but capitalism often exploits the working class. While socialism and its support for unions and fair working conditions can fix that problem, it can also have its downsides, such as high taxes and too much power for politicians.
A government becomes corrupt when it doesn’t make decisions based on the citizens’ best interests. We see it in our politics all the time. A politician runs for office promising new policy and a change from the corruption in D.C. Then they get elected, and their priorities change. When they realize their power, they never want to leave, and they spend their time writing policies based on whatever will keep them in office, not what the people need. Unfortunately, all governments have this potential for corruption because there will always be selfish people that look out for their own best interests.
