You need someone to unite the people. To set a fire under them if you will. Someone to provide direction. That's where the problem enters. You have elevated someone above the rest. When that happens it is not an equal society anymore. Once you lose the equal society it degenerates
If that person is "elevated" only in terms of respect because of his passion and selfless desire to benefit mankind, yet not financially, or any other way, then he is not above the rest. He would be like volunteer soccer coach.
He must not ever except opporuntities for personal wealth because of his position. He must show leadership through example and live by all the ideas he wants common. That's why it is imperative for it be one who grew up in the lower working classes, yet have above average intelligence (by an international standard). Not an iq test type of intelligence, but must have superior insight. One with extreme unselfish passion for the cause and determinatoin to acheive it peacefully. One Who's parents were not wealthy, and understands the proletariat.
That is one reason why I beleive in free University education for all people.
That person would be nothing more than a motivator. Someone to turn to for knowledge, and someone to share knowledge with. Someone you can trust, and when the people have spoken, and all of society is theirs, he must step down from what was never really a "place of power" anyway, and become one of them. He must work a job the same as anyone else and have no problem doing so, nor should he live a superior quality life in any way shape or form. He must make this known from the very beginning that these are his intentions , and must make it formal by something binding. Perhaps he is willing to die at the end of it if the movement succeeds, and will declare that ahead of time and make it binding, thus, "power" going to him is not an issue. People with such passion exist, I assure you. It is not impossible for such a person to exist, and as the movement grows, and others share that level of passion, it will no longer be about one leader, it will be about the proletariat as the leader. That's the way it must be, and that's were it has went wrong in the past. We must learn from the mistakes that past generations made trying to implement socialism.
rather than trying to fundamentally change the very nature of the country we live in
Actually, that is what Capitalism is. Constantly trying to change the nature of the Country we live in. Constantly trying to get richer, and more powerful, thinking of ourselves first, and the needy and those in poverty last.
When a capitalistic Nation is a super power, the entire world is influenced. The very system that controls and influences us as we speak is defined by the very thing you said is reason for someone to be virtually exported out of Canada.
Interesting ...
Capitalism, no longer has a progressive message to humanity. It has ceased to take an interest in what is best for society as a whole, and continues to insist on its old message: whatever is good for capital is good for society, because only capital turns the wheels of production and produces a living for humankind. This ridiculous argument follows the "logic" of a slave owner justifying himself as the one who feeds his slaves.