The point where you realize that running a society is pretty fucking hard and that there's a lot of really complex problems for which most people certainly have no way to inform themselves in sufficient speed?

> running a society

Except this isn't about running a society, it's about running a government. There's a major difference.

If your government sucks its impact on society is pretty much one the most important things in the lives of a country's people that can happen. Unless you've outsourced city planning, health code regulations, pollution management, and other essentials to a third party, it's as close as it gets. And someone's in charge of putting the legions of bureaucrats and technicians doing those things.

the Roman empire?