Culture on My Mind
We Don’t Do Kings Here
June 14, 2025

Today marks a series of demonstrations and protests across the United States. Known as the “No Kings” movement, it includes more than 1,500 cities and towns to oppose the current administration.

The concept of monarchy in the United States is not popular. In the Revolutionary era, an estimated fifteen to twenty percent of colonists were Loyalists in support of the British crown. As the country entered the Confederation period, Alexander Hamilton (among others) recommended crowning an American monarch. Hamilton even stated in a lengthy speech before the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that the United States should be led by an elective monarch who ruled for life unless impeached. His proposal was rejected in favor of the four-year term system that has survived to the modern day (though term limits came about in 1951).

In a poll conducted by YouGov in 2021, a mere five percent of Americans thought a monarchy in the United States would be a good thing, while 69 percent said it would be a bad thing. Two years later, YouGov found twelve percent favored the idea while 63 percent opposed it.

The concept of “no kings” in America goes all the way back to the Declaration of Independence. Fed up with the tyranny of King George III, the Second Continental Congress unanimously voted to adopt and issue the document on July 4, 1776. Contrary to the current President’s interpretation, the document isn’t “a declaration of unity and love and respect”. On the contrary, the Declaration of Independence is a list of grievances. Quite literally, it is well-crafted breakup letter including a list of things the colonists hated about the monarchy.

Among those grievances – the very reasons why the Continental Congress decided to “dissolve the political bands” that connected them to Great Britain – we can see many parallels to the 45th and 47th presidential administrations:

• The colonial assemblies passed various laws for self-governance and the common good, which the King refused to acknowledge;
• The King used his arbitrary will (read: executive orders) in place of legislative process to establish policy over the consent of the people;
• The King opposed immigration because it would give the colonies too much power;
• The King interfered with and improperly influenced the judiciary;
• The King established a variety of new offices that harassed citizens, spent the treasury for their own good, and lined their own pockets;
• The King used the military for domestic enforcement and oppression;
• The King held mock trials in lieu of legitimate justice, including removing the benefit of jury trials;
• The King used trade to punish people and imposed additional taxes without consent (tariffs, which are taxes on consumers);
• The King transported citizens “beyond the Seas to be tried for pretended offenses;” 
• The King “excited domestic insurrections among us;”

…and the list goes on.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The Declaration states “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” The United States government under the Constitution was meant as a democratic republic. The power resides with the people, who elect representatives to govern on their behalf through free and fair elections. The government’s power is derived from the people, and elected officials are responsible to the people.

There is neither bloodline nor divine right to dictate who serves in government. The three separate and co-equal branches of government must operate together with checks and balances. One branch cannot ignore the another simply because it’s inconvenient to uphold the Constitution.

After all, those elected to represent and serve the people swear an oath:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

There is no absolute power.

There are no kings.

That is why the people march today.

Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

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