No Kings Part 1

No Kings Part 1

Out of Egypt, Into Paradox

When the “No Kings” rallies first erupted across the country, their instinctive rejection of authoritarianism seemed on the surface to align with the deepest ideals of the American experiment. Protesters denouncing Donald Trump as a would-be monarch waved placards of broken crowns and quoted the Founders’ warnings against the return of tyranny. Their cause, to many, appeared a straightforward inheritance: “No more kings!”—the cry of ’76 reborn for a new century.

But watching these protests unfold, I found myself returning not just to Philadelphia, but a thousand years further back—to the campfires of ancient Israel, to a different people at a crossroads of freedom and fear. What, I wondered, are we really yearning for when we chant “No kings”? Is this truly the wisdom of America’s founders—or does it echo something deeper, more ambiguous, even self-defeating?

Exodus, Gold, and the Hard Road to Nationhood

Israel’s story is, at its root, a parable about liberation and what comes next. Led out of slavery in Egypt by a divinely-appointed servant, Moses, the Israelites witnessed miracles and received the Law atop Sinai. And yet freedom brought its own dilemmas. In Moses’ absence, the fear and uncertainty of life in the wilderness drove the people to Aaron—for leadership, for answers. In a moment of despair, the former slaves pooled their gold and fashioned a calf—a tangible, manageable god, a false certainty.

God’s promise was not revoked. But the rebellion of the Golden Calf did not go unnoticed. What followed? Forty years of wandering—a generation learning, with stumbles and setbacks, that the real challenge was not escape from Pharaoh, but the forging of a people who could govern themselves under a higher law, resisting the easy answers on offer from within and without.

The Golden Calf story, and the eventual failure of Israel to fully build a righteous nation, stand as sorrowful prophetic prequels: if the lesson of freedom is forgotten, the next generation will wander; if faith is traded for anxiety, the temptation to fashion new, golden certainties—to demand kingly certainty instead of principled service—is always close at hand.

Are the “No Kings” Protests the Answer—or a Symptom?

So as I see the “No Kings” rallies today, I find myself torn. On one level, who could argue with the spirit of 1776? America’s founders built a republic precisely to avoid the concentration of power, to anchor liberty in the consent of the governed beneath the ultimate, if unseen, sovereignty of a just God. But are today’s protests truly descended from that legacy? Or are they—like the people in the camp—restless, anxious, desperate again for someone or something to carry the unbearable weight of self-governance? Do the calls for “No Kings” actually mask a yearning for a king—just one in the protestors’ own image, on their own terms?

Are we again at risk of wandering, of missing the principle behind the protest: that what matters is not simply resisting a king, but cultivating a people capable of living by law and principle, even without a king?

Setting the Stage: What’s at Stake

This question is not merely academic. Israel’s failure to resolve the tension between collective dependence, unruly individualism, and obedience to higher law led eventually to its collapse and dissolution. The same unresolved questions remain alive for us: Is freedom merely the absence of rulers—or does it demand the presence of a steadfast, internalized law? Can any community thrive without both courage and conscience? Have we mistaken outrage against leaders for true willingness to be led—not by impulse, but by justice? Our founders were under no illusions about the fragility of freedom. As John Adams famously warned:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” —John Adams, letter to the Massachusetts Militia, 1798

In this series, I’ll trace this challenge—from Moses and Joshua, through judges and kings, through the perils of American democracy and its own modern crises. In doing so, I hope to illuminate what we are really rejecting and what we’re in danger of losing if we fail to attend to the deeper warning beneath every golden calf and every broken crown.

Coming Installments at a Glance

1. God’s Pep Talk to Joshua and Why Israel Fell Short
   • God’s instructions to Joshua: Conquer, obey, trust.
   • Israel’s partial obedience—treaties, fear, self-preservation over principle.
   • How half-measures set the stage for future crises.
2. The Period of the Judges: Decadence, Chaos, & Yearning for Order
   • “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”
   • How social breakdown created insecurity; why fear leads people to demand a king.
   • Contrasting the flaws of kinglessness with Samuel’s warning about kings.
   • A preview: there is a true resolution, neither king nor chaos.
3. Samuel, Saul, and the Birth of a King: The Pattern that Persists
   • God’s warning in Samuel; the “rack-and-stack” of Israel’s kings.
   • How this maps onto America’s institutional realities and Ike’s warning about the military-industrial complex.
   • Modern “kings”—not just in military affairs, but in public health, economy, and identity.
   • Why the urge for comfort/control grows as fear multiplies.
4. Historical American Presidents: Who Played King?
   • Ranking presidents (and key failed candidates) by their kingly tendencies, policies, and legacy of ‘enslavement’ or liberty.
5. Trump in Context: Disrupting or Continuing the Kingly Drift?
   • Trump’s approach, policies, and promises, “returning power to the people.”
   • Where he truly differed, and where he mirrored past kingly patterns.
6. The “Davidic” Exception & The Real Standard of Justice
   • David as the king “under God’s authority;” the Psalms on wicked rulers and righteous submission.
   • The “No Kings” movement as an effort to cast off all bonds (Psalm 2).
   • Invoking Bahá’í writings—the transformation of law, inward and outward submission.
   • The risk of freedom from all moral authority.
7. Golden Calves and the History of Divine Experiment
   • Aaron’s weakness vs. Moses’ leadership.
   • The thread from Abraham through Christ and the Founders—God’s unfolding plan for a just society.
   • Why America’s vocation is to model “just laws for all”—and why this is more than what the current “No Kings” crowd envisions.
8. The Bahá’í Answer: Building the Kingdom Amidst Confusion
   • Divine guidance for our time; “peculiar people” called to build anew.
   • The Tablet of Ahmad: Relying on God, discerning the path, and refusing superstition.
   • The antidote to wandering: faith, obedience, collective striving.
   • A fitting call: to build, together, what kings and kinglessness have failed to achieve.

Note: These are my views. They are not the official views of any religion, nor are they intended to represent an accurate portrayal of the views of any religion. It is simply my perspective.

Stay tuned for Part 2 next week, where we’ll look squarely at Joshua’s leadership, the first cracks in the new foundation, and what it means for every society—ancient or modern—to be tested at the very moment it wins its freedom.