I'm an Australian, and don't think that quite nails the dissonance. We're comfortable with being a relatively authoritarian relatively liberal country, because

I'm an Australian, and don't think that quite nails the dissonance. We're comfortable with being a relatively authoritarian relatively liberal country, because we believe that the government is competent and under our control, and that the sanctions that the government enforces are just a sacrifice we must make to common democratic project, but then ask an Australian - what do think of the current government and the answer is always / at all times, that they are are rabble of incompetent petty thieves rorting the nation. (Except, actually, I'm kind of happy with Penny Wong as foreign minister)