One of the big lies in the United States is that there is no royalty here. It is true that it no longer adorns itself with all the traditional accoutrements of the past. But it is still with us (though in a distorted form), and reveals itself with stunning clarity at times.
A case in point is the arrival of LSU’s new football coach, Brian Kelly, who was greeted by assorted dignitaries, a security escort, uniformed marching band, and by the adoring people upon his arrival in Baton Rouge:
https://www.brproud.com/sports/geaux-nation/lsu-welcomes-new-head-football-coach-to-death-valley/
C. S. Lewis’s masterful summary of mankind’s hunger for hierarchy was very much on display:
‘Monarchy can easily be "debunked," but watch the faces, mark well the debunkers. These are the men whose taproot in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour of the polyphony, the dance, can reach - men to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an arch. Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film stars instead: For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.’
By and large, government is conducted by a minority, whether it is the father of a family, the bishops and priests of the Church, or a representative assembly of a community. Aristocracy, per Mr Lewis, is the norm. The essential question is how to make sure the government exercises justice and the other virtues.
In the political context, since the fall of pagan Rome and the rise of the Christian Roman Empire, this has been accomplished by following a few simple rules: Baptize politics (people and processes) in the font of Christianity; make sure the political system is rooted in and respectful of the ancient customs and institutions of the people; make careful, prudent reforms only when needed (not because someone has a new theory he wants to test).
Following these precepts has led to remarkable outcomes in the reigns of Kings Edwin, Alfred, Athelstan, Edgar; Emperors Constantine, Theodosius, Justinian; and any number of other English, Roman, and European Orthodox kings. But when the aristocracy (private or public) falls into moral decay and governs unjustly, then we find parricide, schisms, and revolutions.
This has been precisely the response of the West to corruption in her aristocracy – to lecherous popes, absolutist kings, exploitive lords, etc. – which has led to rule by majorities, politicians who cater to their whims, and mechanistic theories of checks and balances. The forces of disorder unleashed in this process of reaction continue to bear poisonous fruit: gender confusion, BLM and other racial agitations, and so on.
Locking ourselves into older versions of the liberal order of autonomous individualism won’t help stem this tide, for such are themselves merely other outworkings of it, share the same spirit with it. However distasteful it may be to some, we must take steps to restore a more ‘illiberal’ order, one that recognizes and yields to immutable hierarchies of Truth, amongst which are notions like aristocracy and that a community worthy of the name has a distinct culture that must be defended against those who would try to undermine it.
An excellent model to look to for this work of restoration is King Vakhtang I of Georgia (+502). During his reign the Christian foundation of Georgia was emphasized and measures were undertaken to build it up and to protect it from alien belief systems:
‘The holy and right-believing king Vakhtang I ascended the throne of Kartli at the age of fifteen. At that time Kartli was continually being invaded by the Persians from the south and by the Ossetians from the north. The situation was no better in western Georgia: the Byzantines had captured all the lands from Egrisi to Tsikhegoji.
‘After his coronation, the young King Vakhtang summoned his court and addressed his dedicated servants with great wisdom. He said that the sorrowful circumstances in which the nation had found itself were a manifestation of God’s anger at the sins of the king and the people. He called upon everyone to struggle in unity and selflessness on behalf of the Faith and motherland.
. . .
The rest is at https://thesaker.is/distorted-american-aristocracy/.
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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
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