It is actually about reversing history in a sense. Not materially, but to get out of the linear/progressive/Whig history mindset is, from the point of view of that mindset, turning back time. This is an affectation for some, an excuse to call others backwards, but you can see the substance of it in social justice discourse; gay marriage is like black people being able to drink from the same fountain. People who are against the normalization of homosexuality are the same people as those who opposed civil rights. The worst part is, there is actually truth to that, but all lies need some for that extra oomph.
Bureaucracy itself is a problematic thing even removed from the liberal/demotist issue. It doesnt matter if you have enough driven, efficient people to maximize the efficiency of gigantic systems if that efficiency itself leads to eventual breakdown. Some noblesse oblige, some inefficiency and perhaps we could have something sustainable but I think the latter will seem an impossible sacrifice. Actual breakdown is required.
I appreciate that this can sound like wild eyed doomsaying, but is the present course sutainable in any way? Are we going to wait for some sort of massive technological breakthrough to provide us with the holy grail needed for infinite growth? Is such a condition even healthy for human beings? Are we bound to our present course because it gives `good` results towards the goal of collectivized herds ruled by the id and tiny elites?
Traditional structures are emergent and they already do exist in a lot of the world (not the western world I am afraid) though they are under threat. A reversion to these is not an unreasonable prospect. Arguments for tradition are not only that it passes the test of history (this can be debated, but fuck debates) but that it is compatible with human nature. I am speaking mostly in a social sense as material concerns are ultimately secondary to this, tradition does not have to be an old system in every single sense. Ultimately there may be no escaping prosperity and breakdown, but with a time tested, inefficient (able to withstand great stress without completely falling apart) traditional system, something well formed may rise from the ashes. The current course may truly be an end of history, in the opposite sense of how this statement is usually used. This may be the last cycle, the highest fall. Now that really is doomsaying, and I dont believe it, but that I cant say it is entirely baseless is a worrying prospect.