King Makers

By Scott Paradis

We are a funny lot – Americans.  We profess to manage ourselves and our state by way of democratic principles to ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.  We believe we have established a government by the people, for the people, of the people to secure, as Alexander Hamilton might have put it, ‘…the sacred rights of mankind…written, as with a sun beam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; never to be erased or obscured by mortal power.’  Yet, we raise up an individual, presume to endow that individual with supernatural powers, install him as president and summarily absolve ourselves of any and all responsibility for the lives we lead, the environment we live in, or the society we create. Despite the dire consequences we persist in making kings.

Maybe it is human nature taken to its extreme in our political system.  From the very beginning, the revolutionaries debated whether to establish a king to rule the independent colonies.  Wisdom prevailed and the founding fathers determined the new nation would be better governed by citizens rather than a single privileged elite.

Despite over two hundred years of history demonstrating, albeit with many pitfalls, that ruling the state through life affirming principles codified in law is far superior to the whims of a sovereign, we fail still to see our culpability in the result.  The only way for a government of the people, by the people, for the people to survive and thrive is if the people recognize and embrace their active role.  The common good is only achievable through the disciplined, moral and just action of individuals.

The political fervor culminating in the swearing in of Barack Obama as President of the United States was no less than that of a coronation.  The one palpable undercurrent of the election was a clamoring for change.  The common man, the everyday citizen heard a message of change (translated into “good for me”) and believed that one man could provide that change.  The self-delusion was that the change would mean a more comfortable and prosperous life – gained at the expense of casting a vote – no work or effort of any kind required.

The promise was for a chicken in every pot, a jaguar in every driveway, and an omnipotent, omniscient state to grow the economy, secure the people, clean up the environment, and cater to the citizens’ every conceivable need – a sweet fantasy to be sure.  The masses mistakenly believed the message, and though the honeymoon is over, still cling to the hope that someone will lift every burden and every responsibility from shoulders powerless to address the grievances arrayed.  The masses long for the wise and benevolent king.

Building every king ultimately results in the veil being torn, the curtain pulled back – the fantasy smashed.  We resist with all our being, the brazen idea that we as individuals and as collectives are responsible for our lots in life.  We are accountable for the lives we lead, the economy we build and the social system we adhere to.  Now much of this is governed by the institutions we have established, but the fault in “self-government” does not lie with what we easily blame – the “government”.  The fault lies with the “self”.

It is time we stop making kings, roll up our sleeves and assume the burdens and blessings of creating a life, an environment and a society we long for – built to ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.

Let’s stop being king makers and king breakers and rather usher in a new birth of freedom through a concerted effort by the people for the people.  Real change happens one person at a time.  The world out there is a reflection of the life in here – inside the individual.  You are king – master of the your fate, captain of your soul.  Resolve now to change your life for the better.  All the king makers will benefit.

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Scott F. Paradis, author of “Promise and Potential: A Life of Wisdom, Courage, Strength and Will”

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