You are thinking it is more intentional than it is. They are going off a Calvinist view of the world. The core value is that everyone is a blnak slate at birth, tabula rasa. Then there are the elect, those who god predestined to lead and set the example, the city on a hill, New York.

When applied to the real world, it doesn't quite work. But it's religious doctrine, they must force it to work. They become increasingly detached from reality. Don't fall for the assumption of normalcy. If these people were normal and reasonable, you'd probably be right.

No one person is capable of percieving the complexities of the world and the systems that make it function, otherwise communism would work.