Not to say I’m all
that emotionally invested in any particular way of running the show. As an
adult Christian, I now recognize the built-in limitations of all human
institutions. But for most people, unless the system in which we grew up was transparently
horrendous, it tended to define our political horizons. I was no exception.
Mind you, as a lifetime
reader of the Old Testament, a monarchy sounded like it might be cool —
always assuming you had exactly the right sort of monarch. But the books of
Kings suggest such a hope is a bit of a long shot: Israel’s 19 kings were
a total moral washout, while Judah went a mere 8.5 for 20 in the “good king” department.
Not a great track
record.
