Sowell explained the “intellectual worship” phenomena in his “Conflict of Visions” book.
The left has the worldview that humans are perfectible (as opposed to the “tragic” worldview that humans are inherently flawed, ie sinners),
and therefore, some humans are already “more perfect” than others,
and therefore, those who are “more perfect” SHOULD make decisions for those who are “less perfect”.
Interesting idea. That would explain their desire to keep on foisting socialism on people,even though we see it as a failed system. As sinful people, we could never be altruistic enough to make a system like that work. They believe they are perfect enough to get it right this time.