Back in olden days, if a Czar woke up one morning and wanted a big feast, they called the cooks and set the tables. The troops came to the castle, he gave 'em a sword, and off they went to die. And happily, I might add. After all, they had the privilege of dying for their king. Today, modern dictators have no false pretenses.
Powerful leaders can lie, cheat and steal from their subjects all day long.
They can declare the sun purple and the grass chartreuse. Kings and dictators never run out of nifty ways to take care of those who disobey. This system worked just fine for centuries. Then along came the United States of America, and screwed everything up. When the founding fathers wrote the constitution, they decided that everyone, even the president, must follow the same laws.