Monarchical Tendencies

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 16, 1908

Monarchical Tendencies

THOSE who anticipate that this republic will be transformed in fact, if not in name, into a monarchical government, will regard the various steps in the direction of a centralized power at Washington, as well as the vigorous exercise of that power, as so much evidence in favor of their views. Considerable comment has also been made upon the influence, amounting almost to dictation, of the present chief executive in the selection of the Republican candidate for the presidency. One such paragraph reads thus:

It is said that when a president is permitted to select his own successor, the first step toward the monarchy has been taken; for it is an assault on a basic principle of our form of government that weakens the whole structure. To patriotically refuse to violate a third term tradition, and then place the scepter of power in the hands of his own selection, is looked upon as a dangerous presidential inconsistency.

That there has been a wide departure from that early theory of government in this country when the office was to seek the man, is very evident, and there are certainly indications that this republic, like the republic of Rome, may retain the forms of popular government while in reality it may be an oligarchy if not a monarchy.