May 25, 2019 Saturday
Bedtime Story
To Understand Democracy You must Deal with Monarchy
In those days of a very nascent United
States there existed a group of people called the Anti-Federalists.
These men opposed the creation of a very
strong U. S. federal government with the concern that the position of the
President might eventually evolve into that of monarch since too much power was
being vested upon one person.
You must remember that these were the times
when European style of governments which essentially were absolute monarchies
(in contrast to constitutional monarchies) was beginning to get looked down upon
by the Founding Fathers of the United States – a nation yet to be born.
Most modern apes might find it surprising
that until the dawn of twentieth century monarchies was the most common form of
government and this is demonstrated by their presence even today - a sign of
their lingering after effects.
As of today forty five nations have
retained monarchs as their head of state even though they are largely
ceremonial and constitutional.
This means that even though these monarchs
are superior to the Average Joe they in truth wield no political clout and but
for the luxurious life style and state-supported comforts are generally of no
serious consequence.
In contrast to this in much of the European
history absolute monarchy was the norm who ruled on the basis of theological
justification or by the doctrine of the divine right.
That word “divine” was a metonym for
absolute power that would be subject to no earthly authority which translated into
the king being completely free to do has he wished the will of the people over
whom he ruled be damned.
Although it is believed that Europe
imported the principle of doctrine of divine right from Russia it was James VI
of Scotland who in his 1598 treatise “The True Law of Free Monarchies” codified
and formalized this notion for Europe.
Lot of Biblical ideas and verses were used
to justify his political and theological ideology of the Doctrine of Divine
Right.
In a speech that he delivered to the
Parliament in 1610 as James I of England (1603 marked the year of union of Scottish
and English crowns along with Ireland) he greatly praised the virtues of the
monarch who was blessed with divine powers:
“The state of monarchy is the supremest
thing upon earth, for kings are not only God’s lieutenants upon earth and sit
upon God’s throne, but even by God himself they are called gods.
There be three principal [comparisons] that
illustrate the state of monarchy: one taken out of the word of God, and the two
other out of the grounds of policy and philosophy.
In the Scriptures kings are called gods,
and so their power after a certain relation compared to the Divine power.
Kings are also compared to fathers of
families; for a king is truly parens patriae [parent of the country], the politic
father of the people.
And lastly, Kings are compared to the head
of this microcosm of the body of man.”
Stay tuned to the voice of an
average story storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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