The whole appeal to authority hugely undermines the principles of the system. If you want something that lives and dies on the whim of some authority: centeralized systems can have much better performance and security properties.
This is a critically important point.
I think that most people are attracted to bitcoin at least in part because of its lack of centralized authority. If necessary I am willing to sacrifice some amount of "better performance and security properties" if necessary. Decentralization is most important.