Or it only works in societies that are egalitarian enough to prevent an oligarch like Berlusconi or Thaksin Shinawatra () from using his wealth to incite the poor to become his foot soldiers.
Much as Berlusconi sucks, he'll be gone some day, and people will pick up the pieces, and things will still be an awful lot better than in places run by real dictators. I'm still free to call Berlusconi an asshole without secret police swooping down and taking me away in the night.
