I think if you take a look at Chinese emperors you will find that they had a similar view on using tax money to protect their own stability.

For instance, the Qianlong emperor, one of the best recent emperors, banned over 2000 book and burned 150,000 copies of revolutionary literature. [1]

I'm guessing European kings also had a similar view of dissenters...

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qianlong_Emperor#Burning_of_boo...