I think we're probably more aligned than you think :-)

I think society is a slow, lumbering beast that's hard to turn around, and very unpredictable.

I think that elites generally control things and the average person can't do much.

But if <<only>> elites control <<always>> things and only in <<their>> favor, then we can't explain how developed countries happened.

Long story short: the common person can't do much in general, but sometimes they can. Otherwise we can't explain stuff like Taiwan or South Korea or Estonia or Czechia or Slovenia or Ireland or whatever. So that means that the common person has a super low chance of changing anything, but that's their only hope. Giving up means that you have <<no>> chance, <<ever>>. And that's how you end up with Ukraine pre-2008 or Moldova pre-2014.

Yes, I agree with everything you said. Voting and protesting matter. Expression matters and is very important despite everything I said earlier. Otherwise everything would be even more alike than it is now. Your logic is sound.

Common people have a lot of power: if they unite.

See Solidarnosc in Poland for a great example.

It is a real pity because the same amount of money applied effectively instead of looted would have made Bulgaria the Switzerland of the East by now. I've visited your country and love it there - and love the people - but the road to go is a long one.

The thing is, it would actually save them from their population problems.

For example in Poland they managed to raise their economy enough that people just stopped leaving.

So even the demographic part is self inflicted. Corruption -> poverty -> people leaving the country.

That's true, the brain drain is going to be impossible to stop without giving people a credible future and for that to happen the corruption needs to stop.