Patriotism? ...

Jon Stewart dismantles a segment of society that just label themselves with ego flattering labels, but don't put any effort into living up too the label.

[media=https://youtu.be/LJUl77rsFEw]

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ninalanyon · 61-69, T

There was only one thing that I disagreed with: Stewart says that Trump wants a monarchy. But that's not quite right because monarchs haven't had the kind of dictatorial power that Trump seems to want for a thousand years, at least not in European monarchies. They have been limited by custom and eventually by law to consult at least with the nobility and then with parliaments. Even the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire were elected or at least confirmed by the electors.

As Stewart mentioned, in the English tradition the Magna Carta limits the king's powers setting him beneath the law.

But Trump seems to want the kind of position that Mussolini and Hitler had.

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ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@Kwek00 [quote]Those thinkers[/quote]
What?

Absolutism was what monarchs, at least some of them, wanted. Almost none of them got it after Middle Ages and very few before. As it says on the Wikipedia article on the subject:
[quote]In general, historians who disagree with the appellation of absolutism argue that most monarchs labeled as absolutist exerted no greater power over their subjects than other non-absolutist rulers, and these historians tend to emphasize the differences between the absolutist rhetoric of monarchs and the realities of the effective use of power by these absolute monarchs. [/quote]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolutism_(European_history)

The only monarch who got close enough to really warrant the label absolute monarch was Louis XIV.

Kwek00 · 41-45, M

@ninalanyon But the idea excists, it's out there. And it's a form of monarchy.
Monarchy, is a large collection of ideas... the only common denominator, is that the country has a "monarch" as a head of state. Inside the context, I think most people understand what kind of monarchy John is talking about.

I also don't think Trump wants a monarchy... I don't hear him talking about blood lineage or aristocracy. But as a sneer to someone that wants his will to be absolute, it's understandable but not accurate. Pundits will be pundits.

LeopoldBloom · M

@ninalanyon Trump doesn't have the courage or the initiative to make himself a dictator, and even if he did, he couldn't do it in four years. My main concern with a second Trump administration is the appointment of more Federalist Society hacks to the federal bench, and further erosion of our standing on the world stage.