Nothing says "you done (expletive deleted), boy" like a spray of blood, bone, and grey matter on the wall behind the asstard.
I don't want to kill the authoritarian freaks, I just want them employed in some line of work that doesn't permit them to abuse other people or animals.
Nice idealism, but the reality is that if you leave them alive they will worm their way back into power. History has shown that there are only two ways to deal with a tyrant: incarceration or execution.
That being the case, I'd actually favor incarceration. Let them rot and televise their decay as an example to the other would-be tyrants of what the people will do when we become dissatisfied. Putting them down is probably more satisfying, but you get more mileage out of locking them up and disgracing them.
You mean, like pulverizing big rocks with a sledge hammer into smaller rocks? That's what I would like to see them doing...just sayin'...