People have. This has all been tried before.

Vanguard socialism was the idea that a group of enlightened revolutionaries needed to lead the people towards the coming socialist utopia. The Vanguard became concerned only with maintaining its own power and the totalitarian Soviet Union was born.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguardism

I believe humans are inherently good but we are also inherently corruptible. Thats why the most successful modern societies contain transparent institutions and frequent elections, so that the people can hold their leaders to account and ensure they work to make the nation as a whole richer, rather than just their own chequebooks.