The lure of control

Why is it that politicians on the left have an instinctive tendency to want to control? Here's a problem, - control the people!, ban the activity, pass new restrictive laws, lay down conditions for compliance, set up commissions to oversee, etc.

Is it that their ideology, with a blueprint for a perfect society, requires constant impositions to push things in that direction? The rest of us may be more tolerant of the liberties of others, and feel that the market system is the best reconciler of millions of different needs and desires, but those on the left, having no such mechanism or belief in freedom in the same way, feel constrained ever to try to build their self-imposed model?

Or is it their fear that things may go to the dogs if they do not assert their control on every occasion? To misquote the poet, "Always keep a hold on nurse, for fear of having something worse." "If you do it they'll all want to do it, and some can't, so...."

Or is it a smug self-assurance that they know best, and those who elect them, having swallowed their whole manifesto, don't have enough intelligence to understand or manage for themselves?