No Kings, No Clue
On Saturday, Oct. 18, some 2,500 “No Kings” protests took place across America. By all accounts, the protests were peaceful and well attended, and photo/video evidence reveals that the mostly old white participants had a roaring good time.
But it seems the protests had little, if any, impact on any monarch.
Before the protest began, before any placard was waved, before the first shout in disgust at Royal Rule filled the air there were 29 ruling monarchs worldwide — 28 kings and 1 queen. Despite the artful signage, the creative costumes, the singing, and the scowls of moral superiority, now — after all the protest — all 29 royals still wear the crown.
In Saudi Arabia, UAE, Cambodia, Kuwait, Swaziland and Sweden, the King is still the King.
Philippe in Belgium and Felipe of Spain retain their fabulous names and they continue to revel in Royal Rule.
The protesters had no apparent impact on the kings of Luxembourg, Norway, Netherlands, Malaysia or Japan and of course ‘God Saved the King’ in the United Kingdom.
It’s odd that a No Kings protest would even occur in the USA. Why would Americans be so fired up that they would spend a gorgeous fall Saturday protesting an issue that has nothing to do with America? George III was the last king to push his weight around in our beloved land and that was 250 years ago.
Some might argue that America’s education system is in such a state of disrepair that vast numbers of citizens don’t know that the USA is a Democratic Republic — not a Monarchy — that there is No King.
Whether the protests were spawned by ignorance or concern for the well being of citizens in distant lands (or both) the question remains: why were the protests such an abject failure at reigning in any king?
Maybe the protests were so ineffective because the protesters don’t have any experience with being ruled by a monarch, and thus no understanding of what they are protesting against.
In the revolutionary pamphlet Common Sense first published in 1776, Thomas Paine attacked the idea of monarchy as absurd and evil and called George III a “royal brute.” Not much of an invective in current parlance, but fighting words in 1776.
Thomas Jefferson’s first draft of the Declaration of Independence was mostly a “list of grievances – specific charges against the King.”
America’s founders had actually experienced life under the rule of a king. The signatories on the Declaration of Independence were willing to give their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to oust George III, and install instead the American form of government that we have now.
Some of the No Kings protesters don’t know the difference between a man and a woman — perhaps they don’t know the difference between a king and a president. In the USA, a president is the head of one of the three branches of government and is restrained by a Constitution and a system of checks and balances. A king’s restraints — not so much.
Wait…. is it possible that the protesters weren’t expressing themselves for the benefit of Saudis, Swedes and Swazis? Might they have been protesting different kings— American kings? Martin Luther King? The King of Pop, Michael Jackson? Even – God forbid — The King himself, Elvis?
If these iconic American kings were the target of the No Kings protest then I have just one thing to say to the No Kings protesters: God Bless The King!
Philip S. Bovee is an attorney and writer who has lived in Pahrump since 2023.
