You can't cow a population into submission unless you're willing to do it the way Mao Tse Tung and Stalin did (and even then it's not a long-term control mechanism). You have to use fraud or they have to be genuinely willing to obey.
Thus, "killing off their leaders" is not sound policy -- it just makes them immortal heroes to their footsoldiers.
"You have to use fraud or they have to be genuinely willing to obey."
Ah, like the way the MSM and DNC operate?