Public opinion always matters. Even kings needed their people on their side; why do you think they made up all that divine right bullshit and had the churches preach it so much?
Every country has the government that a sufficient number of people are willing to tolerate. Tyranny can only tip the scales, it cannot change the game. If a populace doesn’t want to be ruled, it cannot be ruled. That’s why fascism relies so heavily on the imposition of a hierarchy; because the people who aren’t at the bottom will support the system that gives them someone else to tread on, while the rich and the powerful live it up at the top. But you always need to keep a significant sector of the population on your side. There always has to be an in group who benefit enough from the government to want to keep it.
Governments end when enough people want them to end. Democracy is just a way of doing it politely.
Public opinion always matters. Even kings needed their people on their side; why do you think they made up all that divine right bullshit and had the churches preach it so much?
Every country has the government that a sufficient number of people are willing to tolerate. Tyranny can only tip the scales, it cannot change the game. If a populace doesn’t want to be ruled, it cannot be ruled. That’s why fascism relies so heavily on the imposition of a hierarchy; because the people who aren’t at the bottom will support the system that gives them someone else to tread on, while the rich and the powerful live it up at the top. But you always need to keep a significant sector of the population on your side. There always has to be an in group who benefit enough from the government to want to keep it.
Governments end when enough people want them to end. Democracy is just a way of doing it politely.