Pertinent for religion in the public place.
There are two ways of understanding America, as two different modes of the presence of Europe in America.
It's the same as saying that there are two wys of understanding democracy.
By democracy we can mean that there are no kings, or, instead, that everybody is called to be king.
Which do you pick?
Monday, September 07, 2009
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3 comments:
Interesting question. Of course Huey Long tried to get "Every Man A King" which who knows might have stopped democracy as some of his foes fear
Dear James,
Although I cannot speak for the Humbly Presumptuous, I can say that Huey Long's mantra has always excited...ambivalence, and been reason for pause.
On the one hand, I do think that Long saw something many others did not: that we are all equally responsible for the common good. What gave most folks pause (or so it seems to this Connecticut Yankee)was not his insight: it was his legislative agenda, which ultimately would have turned citizens into clients of an ever-expanding state.
I do not think that assent to the insight requires or entails support for the questionable legislative agenda.
Best,
LD
The counterquestion in answer to the one I asked should have been: what do you mean by "king"?
Or, in more general terms: who is king?
To which I would answer: to have an idea, let's look at the historical and etnographic witnesses of kingship.
After all, Christianity is all about God's kingdom.
HP
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