The ratchet effect is real and is what eroded the Nordic Model here in Sweden; right-wing parties pushed everything towards privatization, corruption, arbetslinjen, segregation and exploitation, and the left-wing (in name only) enshrined all changes as the new baseline. (And gasoline populism being embraced by both sides.) Just like a ratchet.

I don’t think it’s teleological; it’s the emergent result of processes like the electoral system itself and how money does influence policy. It’s not that it’s Pelosi and Granholm trying to speedrun the world into an elephant graveyard and more that it’s a broken system with perverse incentives.