Therefore, they can (and do) vote in monsters on occasion. Sometimes they recover from it (like we did in 2020 from the convict). Other times, they can only be displaced by war (like Germany). Russia still hasn't rid itself of its monster. As technology advances, it is easier to control people through surveillance, facial recognition, biometry, crowd control and dispersal tools, and more. So once a regime gets in place, it would be very difficult to dislodge them,

Quite true, but they are all eventually displaced, too. There are no more Roman Kings, Chinese Emperors, Egyptian Pharoahs, Aztec Monarchs. It doesn’t usually happen in the first generation, although occasionally they last as long as Matt Gaetz nomination, but eventually there’s a bad enough one brought along by whatever means that society uses (heredity, political influence, sheer wealth, etc.) that’s so horrible that the people revolt. Or they are taken out by war.

And then sometimes they return: see Iran, etc.

Democracy *is* hard. We’ve been quite lucky. I’m not sure if we will continue to be, but I’m hopeful.

If you want an example of a long lasting dynasty, look to the Roman Catholic Church, which has lasted for almost 2,000 years and still has people bowing down to the Pope. Even did when the Popes were among the most corrupt of society, with untold wealth, morals that would shock an alley cat, and principles diametrically opposed to what the worshippers wanted. Go figure. Religion is a pretty good game for this sort of thing, I guess.