Is our republican form of government on its last legs? We have a lot of threats to the good life America has known. On one side you have people calling for a Constitutional convention. They think they can limit the changes but they need to understand that the original convention was made up of delegates told to limit the changes. They ignored it. At the other end you have the Progressive anarchists trying to ferment a revolution that will overthrow the structure we have with violence. If they can cause enough fear with their violence then people will respond with violence and some kind of police state would be set up. Will we survive? Yes, but in what form?
How about a king?
If we were electing a king, for whom would I vote? Whom would I trust to establish a dynasty? Should we play with a different approach to government? There are many variations in history. Most have had good times and bad. I think the results of the form of government are more a matter of “people getting the government they deserve” than the actual system itself. Maybe that is heresy for an American but history has a lot of examples.
Take the idea of a dictator. Most people don’t realize that dictators are elected by the people or are appointed with public approval. We tend to think of Adolf Hitler. He was a dictator. Although his brown shirts used tactics similar to Antifa thugs of today, he did not take over in a military coup. He won the election. He may have used intimidation and violence but it was the people of Germany that ultimately said “Yes”.
The concept of a dictator goes back at least to the Roman Republic. In times of crisis they realized that the bickering of the Senate would take too long. Action was needed and it was needed now. So they would appoint one man as dictator. Originally it was for the period of one year, then he would step down. During that year he had absolute power and after he stepped down could not be punished for anything he had done. It was very efficient and of course people tried to manipulate it. Julius Caesar was murdered because he seemed to want to be dictator, for life.
It is said that a benevolent dictatorship is the most efficient form of government. The problem is that the benevolence usually disappears.
Would that be any worse than the entrenched elites in Washington?
homo unius libri
Sad to say, but it's a proven fact that the populace doesn't have the ability to govern itself. That demands self-control and general maturity, and too many want all they can get just for themselves, and at any cost, especially to others. The Jews were lead of God, Himself, but that wasn't good enough for them, yet it was the ONLY system that ever actually worked.
ReplyDeleteThe problem then was the same one that faces us today. We want to be in control and not let God be God. It goes back to the Garden of Eden and into tomorrow.
DeleteGrace and peace.
Heaven forbid. See what happened to the Jewish nation in the Old Testament when they established a monarchy.
ReplyDeleteOr the periods between the judges. It seems so clear in hindsight. When they obeyed they prospered. When they didn't it was nothing but suffering.
DeleteGrace and peace.