Nowadays you hear about dictators all over the news and you know their names Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping. We even learn about them in school, from a young age we are taught to hate people like Hitler and Stalin and everything associated with them including the word dictator.

You know and were taught the names and faces of the worst dictators in history and today, but people neglect to tell you that dictators can be good. People like Abdullah II of Jordan, Lee Kuan Yu and Josip Broz Tito were some of the few benevolent dictators.

Benevolent dictators rule with the power of a dictator, but care for their people and make decisions that may not benefit them, but benefit their people.

Lee Kuan Yew, first prime minister of Singapore didn’t care what you called him, whether it be dictator, tyrant, or prime minister, he simply did what was best for his people even if they disagreed. Lee Kuan Yew lifted millions out of poverty by micromanaging their lives, yet by doing this he could also grew Singapore’s economy and improved Singapore’s standard of living. 

Lee Kuan Yew may have ruled like a dictator, but he did what was best for his people. He was also one of the few dictators to be elected and to step down as prime minister when he felt the time was right. He may have not ruled till death, but every living second he improved Singapore.

Benevolent Dictatorship creates a more responsive country who is able to quickly react to threats or problems without taking a vote and can make the right decisions for the country even if the people think otherwise.

Dictators  don’t need to be loved, only respected to stay in power, but they choose why people respect them, whether it be out of fear like some dictators today, or their leadership and accomplishments like Lee, Abdullah, and Josip.

To give one who cares for their people supreme power is what makes benevolent dictatorship the ideal way to run a country. To be able to ignore the racist and sexist individuals who would otherwise vote for absurd laws and instead pass the laws and make the decisions, not that people want, but people truly need.

People need to realize dictators aren’t all bad and giving more power to world leaders will make the country better prepared for events like 9/11. And maybe this is what we need, in a society where countries are ruled by crazed dictators and democracies governed by selfish politicians, a benevolent dictator at the head of a large country might not be that bad, but that isn’t to say there shouldn’t be fail safes.