[Perun]

For the record, I also like to add that when concerning an aristocracy I believe in what is called a "service aristocracy", meaning men gain aristocratic titles through service to the state as opposed to simply being born in a certain family.

Although some like Hans-Hermann Hoppe argue that an advantage to hereditary government is that people often have a healthy skepticism towards government, wheras in Republics/Democracies(yes I know they're not exactly the same but bare with me) since the interests of the government are perceived as those of the people, well people tend to be less skeptical of it. The illusion is "Oh well if they do something wrong, they'll be voted out of office", while the truth is they usually will not(for proof of this look at the election of Bush, despite how much he completely messed up as president, and I mean REALLY messed up!).

Of course hereditary means are not the only ways of having a monarch come to power. Need we forget in the Holy Roman Empire, the Emperor was elected was a select committe(the 'Electors' they were called, quite obvious as you can tell).

Even if one does believe in democratic government, monarchies often provide the perfect framework for such a system to occur.