Your main leader on Silvio Berlusconi and special report on Italy offer much food for thought on good and bad government (“The Man Who Screwed an Entire Country” and “Oh, For a New Risorgimento,” June 11, 2011). As you point out, many Italian businesspeople originally believed that Berlusconi’s “roguish, entrepreneurial chutzpah” offered a chance to modernize the economy, but they have changed their minds in the meanwhile. Of course, many Italians of all walks of life had similar hopes when he appeared on the political scene. A good number of them are still confused. But neither your main leader nor the special report address the simple question of why so many Italians have kept voting for Berlusconi through all his shenanigans, including the “Bunga Bunga” sex parties. For good measure, the special report on Italy could have had a somewhat more challenging title: “The Country that Let Itself Get Screwed by One Man.” After all, this is not the first time Italy has prostrated itself in expectation of ultimate bliss. Benito Mussolini comes readily to mind.