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Dictators can fix up their entire families in good jobs, in or around government, and often do. In democracies, such a practice is frowned upon. Privileged access to the corridors of power through family connections and a kind of old boys' network, is also deemed an abuse of power, and so it is.

Fidel Castro for me is like a father.

Anyone who reads my work will see that there are often difficult relationships between fathers and sons.

Every father and son have conflicts.

Dictators are interesting, no?

Dictators, unlike Democrats, depend on a small coterie to sustain their power. These backers, generally drawn from the military, the senior civil service, and family or clan members, have a synergistic relationship with their dictator. The dictator delivers opportunities for them to become rich, and they protect him from being overthrown.

As a former Governor, and more importantly, as a father, I know all too well how protective elected officials are of the special relationships they have with their children.

Any father likes his son to take over from him if possible.

Think about one of the most powerful influences on a young child's life - the absence of a father figure. Look back on recent presidents, and you'll find an absent, or weak, or failed father in the lives of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Dictators must have enemies. They must have internal enemies to justify their secret police and external enemies to justify their military forces.