From Douglas Adams' So Long and Thanks For All The Fish, referring to a robot that has just landed on Earth in a spaceship, walked down a gangplank ala The Day The Earth Stood Still, and announced "Take me to your lizard":
"It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..."
"You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"
"No, nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd... I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did. It is."
"So, why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"
"It honestly doesn't occur to them. They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
"Oh yes, of course."
"But why?"
"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard, the wrong lizard might get in."
(Reprinted with great admiration, but no permission).
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