I've yet to find anything in life, that, if you look at it and observe it as an adult, is not a 'mixed blessing.' Perfection is not a human trait, and doesn't seem to be very evident in the rest of the universe either. The best jobs I've ever had, had aspects to them that sucked. The worse job's I've ever had, had moments that were pretty good.* So granted the basic form of a democratic republic with checks and balances such major ass. It's just that the other forms suck even more ass.
And, I think that's its all but impossible to even begin to ascertain some of that stuff (both the good and the bad) unless you have had some experience in dealing with, traveling through, and/or living in other places, with different systems.
Far to many people are all "YEAH" or "BOO" without any real understanding of the other options, and what the price of those are.
* - and, here is that real human thing too - there are people who have been in those positions, that would agree with me that parts of the good jobs were bad, and parts of the bad jobs were OK, but totally disagree as to what those parts were.