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Problem #3: Divine Right of Kings.
The natural inclination to seek leaders allowed not only military heroes to become kings (the traditional path), but also the prideful to use flattery to gain thrones. And when kings aged, relatives wanted to keep it in the family and fob onto the huddled masses that a royal lineage claim on power – royal blood – is God’s will. Better still, to combat those who want a people’s voice in the matter, turn the monarch into a deity himself. What a fancy way to take the name of God in vain.
Constitution Solution: The people are sovereign; government is the servant. Thomas Jefferson said it was the first time in history that this has happened. “We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union ….”
How could such an earth-jarring departure from the customary people-government relationship have been implemented if not from God?
With this singular reversal, the Constitution changed the way we should think about power and government. Leaders are governed by consent of the people, not by imagined deity or someone’s daddy’s DNA.Share
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