The visit of Japanese Emperor Naruhito to Buckingham Palace Tuesday included a lavish formal dinner sufficient to make any Republican’s hair rise. While the opulence of these monarchs is obvious, it is necessary to remember that power and tyranny can come in forms without crowns. Emperor Naruhito and King Charles are defanged, compared to the rationalistic social engineers in our government.
The Japanese emperor was traditionally claimed to be a descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, making the imperial bloodline divine. On this side of the world, the English king traditionally claimed descent from Woden, or Odin.
These bizarre mystical tales that claim a divine status for their respective monarchs are laughable in the modern era. We now pride ourselves on our greater rationality in thought and politics compared to our ancestors. But we must remember that this drive for rational governance has historically gone hand in hand with the centralization of power.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Louis XIV of France, Frederick the Great of Prussia, and Maria Theresa of Austria attempted to rationalize their feudal countries into modern states through mass centralization. These monarchs are often identified in history as absolutist monarchs, rulers who desired to have all state power under their thumb. The lower classes supported these initiatives as they sought protection from local nobles and guilds.
The rationalistic political impulse continued expanding. The construction of the modern Western nation-state defined the political history of the 19th and 20th centuries. In Europe, nationalists and socialists vied to have their preferred societal systems imposed. The American federal system delayed the rise of the centralizers. But they eventually came, most notably through Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. However, Republican politicians have also participated in this massive expansion of the federal bureaucracy.
What we face now is a tyranny of the rationalistic impulses unleashed by the Enlightenment. Our universities produce social engineers educated to tinker with people’s lives as seen through spreadsheets. This interference can be seen in the response to COVID-19, the ideological initiatives in education, and more.
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In reaction to this ascendant tyranny, some conservatives have become attracted to dangerous ideas. This can be seen in Michael Anton discussing a new “Caesar” or the admiration for foreign strongmen on the right. Many conservatives are increasingly susceptible to a reactionary form of government that promises to turn the Enlightenment tide back.
But it is neither possible nor desirable to go back. The rationalizing impulses that confront us now had their origins in a reaction against real injustices. Instead, we must consider now what defines and preserves liberty. It is family, faith, and community that make us prosper and free. That which is frustratingly irrational to central planners, the sentiments that bond a Thanksgiving dinner or Sunday service is what now must be emphasized. No social theory or political ideology can save the United States. The bizarre rituals and traditions embodied in the two monarchs meeting in Britain remind us that there is more to politics than just the rational.