I’ve just realized how awesome the queen of England is. She released a statement saying she would take back rule of America if we wanted. She said, “This two-hundred-and-forty-year experiment in self-rule began with the best of intentions, but I think we can all agree that it didn’t end well.” She said, “This would be an old-school monarchy. Just me, and then, assuming you’d rather not have Charles, we could go straight to William and those children of his who have mesmerized you so.”*
I assume she’s basically kidding, and I know all earthly monarchies have their problems, but I had been thinking about why our democracy has gotten us into the quagmire it has. And it got me thinking about why a kingdom with one ruler is probably actually better than democracy.
Hold onto your tar-and-feathers. Just hear me out.
I think that with humans, a system in which candidates are elected by doing what will make people elect them is bound to nose-dive eventually. Here’s why I think that’s true.
Very few citizens know what a president needs to know. Or have the correct instincts to rule a complex nation. Sometimes a leader has to make unpopular decisions because he knows what needs to be done. A democracy basically allows people to vote someone out of the position (or never vote them in) if they did so. We’d end up with a pretty shallow nation, and a people-pleasing leader.
Do we really want a nation to be run by a people-pleaser?
And thus, the political mess we’re in today. The lack of morality and character which we have seen in this presidential race is probably the most natural state of a system that rewards candidates for giving the voters what they think they want.
Also, in a democracy any singularly beautiful vision will get widdled down and beat into a different shape by all the other people that get their say on it. All the lobbyists, the House and Senate members who all have different agendas and pet projects. Even protestors and anybody with influence on social media. So to have a king who has a beautiful unified vision and dictates how it will be delivered could be SO much more efficient, unadulterated and beautiful.
Is it a surprise that our nation is fractured, polarized, and antagonistic.
I think a monarchy would probably be the best model in an ideal world. But the problem with the earthly monarchies of the past is that most leaders with supreme power got there by inheritance or by sheer power. Not by being found worthy. And if they weren’t already corrupt, the power often does it to them. And then in the rare case that a king is truly wise and good, they are often conquered by someone who is more brutal or powerful.
The sad thing is that in this world, until we find one leader that we all trust enough to rule supremely, democracy is perhaps the safest model. But that doesn’t speak to the failure of the model as much as it speaks to our fallen humanity. (Plus I would be wary of any human who convinced everyone that they were worthy to rule supremely. If we were all so resolutely impressed with someone, I would suspect we had elected the antichrist.)
So as we see the dismantling of the American ideals in this system that was meant to uphold them, it should point our eyes toward heaven. For that is the only place where we can trust one ultimate, all-knowing, all-wise, all-powerful leader. We can only trust Jesus Christ to make the best decision, every time, for the human race. Because he was the one who created it, and cares for us enough to go through some serious crap for us.
But I think our hearts must be changed before we willingly let him usurp rule. When we put him up for election last time, we nailed him there, stabbed him, made fun of him, and let him hang till he was dead.
Raw Spoon, 10-22-16
P.S.- I would present my opinion of which candidate not to vote for this election season, but I’ve learned if I don’t have a good alternative, I should keep my mouth shut.
*I was informed the article is a joke, and she didn’t really say it. That’s okay. I still think she’s awesome just because we all need excuses to think each other are more awesome than we assume.
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