True, indeed, but that's another of those statements that is so often used to wrap the discussion up in pretty paper, tie a red ribbon round it and put it back on the shelf to gather dust. There are doubtless many people who aspire to be dictators, mainly so that they can stick it to some person or group to whom they have taken a disliking. I know for a fact there are many people who are benevolent, and I am sure that many of them, like me, would go to great inconvenience to avoid being made a dictator. In my case, I know why, and the reasons do me no credit.

But Vetinari is not benevolent. He doesn't wish anyone particularly well, and certainly not everyone. Ankh-Morpork isn't a kind place to live. We don't need benevolent. We just need someone who is "fair," in the sense that we really mean the word "fair" (as in the cartoon, when everyone gets to watch the game) and will use their wits to enforce that fairness against all prejudice and privilege.

Men on the moon were hard to come by. Treatments for cancer were hard to come by. This is nothing by comparison. But we'll never do it, because we would rather cling to the hollow shell of principle than see how the living spirit of that principle has drifted away from us.