Coming Soon! The Cult of The One

BRUTUS.Ay, Casca, tell us what hath chanced today,That Caesar looks so sad.

CASCA.Why, you were with him, were you not?

BRUTUS.I should not then ask Casca what had chanced.

CASCA.Why, there was a crown offer'd him; and being offer'd him,he put it by with the back of his hand, thus; and then the people fell a-shouting.

BRUTUS.What was the second noise for?

CASCA.Why, for that too.

CASSIUS.They shouted thrice: what was the last cry for?

CASCA.Why, for that too.

BRUTUS.Was the crown offer'd him thrice?

CASCA.Ay, marry, was't, and he put it by thrice, every time gentler than other; and at every putting-by mine honest neighbors shouted.

This is a piece that I've been rolling over in my mind for a few weeks now. I did not know whether or not I would join the minority chorus of doubt leading up to the inauguration. What have we as conservatives got to say now that we did not say in the past year?

There is something deeper going on than a man's political ideas, something scarier than the inauguration of a president. We do not see it manifest where we are because folks here are by nature political sceptics. If George Washington himself, much less Ronald Reagan, came back we in this region may approve of him, but we would never raise him above us. We have seen and understood too much of politics to entirely give over our faith to someone who simply says "Trust me" and has no track record to back him (or her) up.

It started last year when the mighty Lord Oprah conferred her favor upon The One. Lord Oprah delights in passing out presents to the peasants, but for the first time in an election she poured out the oil upon the head of The One and anointed him with her favor. The people and campaign managers rejoiced and the all too human Hillary was swept aside.

Then came the Democratic National Convention. In a scene more reminiscent of a Saturday Night Live sketch than an actual political event, The One actually appeared under a Greek temple facade. Although he did not go so far as to wear some sort of toga and wreath on his head, it was clear that the Democratic Party aimed to set The One up as beyond mere politicians and other rabble.

Most disturbing have been some of the utterances and sights since the election. A friend told me of a liberal speaking on the radio about the qualities he liked in a president that ruled over him. Such language in the 1790s would have probably gotten the man a stern lecture on the spot. The President of the United States does not "rule over" anyone. He serves the people. That is why we do not call him "Your Highness" or "Your Excellency," but simply "Mister President."

Then I went to Atlanta last Monday. The Atlanta Underground was filled to the brim with Obamysteria. A T shirt with his face proclaimed "The Greatest Dream Has Come True!" A fifteen foot tall poster with his air brushed name and visage was available for anyone willing to pay $2 for the privilege of having their picture taken with it. probably the final straw came when I walked into a room where my kids were watching a video show. One of the people wore a T shirt with Obama's face and a golden crown atop his head.

The phrase "cult of personality" means that a person is trying to create for themselves a transcendent aura to gain power when they have done little or nothing significant to gain influence. Usually when we use this phrase, we apply it to Robespierre, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, or Mussolini. It could also be applied to Huey Long (dictatorial governor of Louisiana in the 1930s) or John F. Kennedy. Americans tend to reject transcendent auras around their politicians, but on rare occasions it does work. Cults of personality are dangerous to democracies because they convince the person around whom they are centered of their own flawlessness while discouraging dissent. In the passage from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar above, Caesar rejects the crown, but aims for more power than even the people can imagine.

The One's cult of personality is understandable in some quarters, but not others. News media outlets have fallen over each other fawning over him, not subjecting him to even a tenth of the investigative coverage George W. Bush faced. A few voices of reporters on the ground actually create a disturbing image. Dean Reynolds of CBS wrote of his overwhelming arrogance, certainly a negative trait in an anointed one.

For the good of democracy it is important to maintain the pressure. It demands that we remain vigilant over his actions and also try to deflate the bubble of his personality cult. Democracy is better served when we openly debate a presidents positive and negative attributes.

It is never served by annointing a "One" and following him blindly. Usually following The One brings a people the following disaster:

8:10 And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.
8:11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
8:12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
8:13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
8:14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
8:15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
8:16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
8:17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
8:18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.
8:19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;