Rich autocracies won't last

Here's yet another article pondering whether China will democratize (giving me yet another excuse to throw in my two cents). Let's go back to one of the basic reasons we prefer liberal democracy in the first place: power corrupts. If we could trust in a wise, benevolent dictator, then, from a utilitarian perspective, would that not be better than to risk the population voting for ruinous policies? I believe China will eventually democratize not simply because economic growth empowers the middle and upper classes, but because eventually the corrupting effect of autocratic power will produce a period of such poor governance that the empowered classes will not tolerate it. Such intolerance of the current regime could occur as soon as China's next economic downturn, or it might be a century away, but it's coming. (There is also the slim possibility that the current regime will gradually politically liberalize.) Take a look at the Declaration of Independence: it's mainly a long list of practical complaints about British misgovernment.