[hangonhn]

In violent agreement with you and I love your comparison! This is precisely the trap the Chinese are falling into as they reverse their democratization and remove the guardrails put in place after Mao. People are attracted by the "glamour" of a strong authoritarian and the exercise of power to quickly get things done. But the moment that power falls into the hand of the corrupt, it's hell for everyone. We see this over and over in Chinese history: this is the heart of the dynastic cycle. China has tried to remedy this by trying to pound education into the heads of their rulers and have good advisers/ruling elite around the rulers. However, you can only go so far with that. The repeated rise and fall of Chinese dynasty is a manifestation of these failures.