I've heard it said that a benevolent dictatorship is a better government than democracy for that reason (e.g. Singapore) until it stood being benevolent because

I've heard it said that a benevolent dictatorship is a better government than democracy for that reason (e.g. Singapore) until it stood being benevolent because the leadership changed or the leader grew corrupt. There's some truth there. That's not an argument in favor of authoritarianism, of course.