@rbreich A strategic error, since democracy itself is an evolved mechanism that allows the oligarchy to maintain control (yes, democracies are thinly disguised oligarchies because the oligarchs vet all the candidates) while generating little counter-control ("pushback"). But...if your totalitarianism is brutal enough, and technologically-advanced enough (facial recognition, AI drones - real 1984, "minority report" stuff), you can dispense with the paper tiger called "democracy."