"When the cat's away, the mice will play"
Actually, it's negative feedback from the people to the government. Sometimes, it takes disobedience to get attention.
Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov