Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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The Trump wing of the Republican Party seems incredibly comfortable heading down whatever path the former president wants to lead them. Historically, such trust placed in a single leader has led to a serious case of dependency, much like an infant’s reliance on its mother’s breast. We might take the reign of Charles II in England as an example.
While in most democratic nations the people call upon God or a trustworthy neighbor to witness important facts and occurrences, Charles’ view supplanted that of God and people. It was said that “the word of the king” was all that was needed to establish the validity of most anything.
While the king could not be expected to solve all the people’s troubles and squabbles, he was not expected to entirely ignore his subjects, either. One historian writes about the time when “the king went so far as to explain himself” when he made a decision.
The king could not be sure, of course, that the people would not want to grow up. To insure against that possibility, in Charles’ time the people were asked to take an oath not to change the form of government.
In a world of such fawning dependence upon a single person, it is understandable why the king’s death was regarded as “the end of the world.”
