Agreed, that's why functional governments ( democratic or not ) always offer some kind of "candy" for the plebs. It's an optimization problem, what it the exact point where we lose control of the situation? then dial it back a few notches.

It's not because of morality of being "good", it's a practical mechanism for every power structure.

The "saving grace", is that these power structures tend to become so corrupt they can't assess that threshold anymore and then "people revolt", which by itself is far from any guarantee of success or any meaningful change. That's one of the reasons the "silent majority" is not too adept of "revolutions" and always wait to see which horse they should bet.