Must America be a theocracy?

After a succession of Republican-sponsored theocracies starting with the presidency of Ronald Reagan and continuing to the present administration of President George W. Bush, the Democratic party has just about had enough, and it believes the same of the American people.

Gradually increasing in strength from a modestly God-affirming but strongly ground-standing President like Ronald Reagan, who could perhaps be compared to one of the Crusader kings of the Middle Ages, the Republican dynasty came close to establishing a new emperor Constantine in George W. Bush. More aggressively supportive of Christian causes than his father the elder President George Bush, his career relative to his father’s in some ways reflected that of emperor Contantine relative to his father, Constantius Chlorus. But unless you know the history of the later Roman Empire, such comparisons are probably irrelevant. Suffice it to say that in the current President we have as close as we could expect to come to having a Christian emperor like Constantine the Great. Since the critics of Republican politics call it a theocracy, let me ask this question.

Which do you prefer, a theocracy with an anointed emperor at the helm, or a theocracy centered on a divine savior? America seems to be hell-bent on having one or the other. Oddly, though, since we are possibly the most materialist nation of all time and, though we give lip-service to whatever we are free to call “God,” we’re much better at trying to save others than we are at saving ourselves. I mean, economically, politically, socially and religiously, we want to save the world, but we would rather be left alone ourselves, to pursue our private “dreams.” We’re very generous with others, very reckless with ourselves, and our brand of Christianity follows suit.

Again, I ask, which do you prefer, a theocracy with an emperor, or one ruled by a god?

Myself, there is only one Theocracy, and it’s neither emulated nor represented by any current institution on earth, not church, not state. Despite America’s “manifest destiny,” I cannot and will not attribute to America the role of savior-nation to the world. There’s only one nation that has been given that role.

Who knows why we have this fatal bent in our American psyche, but we must have a theocracy at all costs, at any cost, even if it means giving to a mere man the worship that belongs only to the Most High.
πολλοι ελευσονται επι τω ονοματι μου λεγοντες οτι εγω ειμι και πολλους πλανησουσιν (Mark 13:6)