[ZenGum]

I see what you mean, it is like Churchill's point that democracy is the worst form of government except for every other form that has been tried.

There are times, though, when we need a strong leader to say something like "screw your campaign contributions, screw your vested interest lobby groups, screw your poll results, screw your marginal electorates and swing states, I'm in charge here and were doing [insert necessary but unpopular move here]!"

Alas, for someone to be able to say that, they'd need to have roughly absolute power, and we have an adage about that, too.