A relatively uncommon historical debate on our separation from Kings as Americans is whether calling July 4th, 1776, Independence Day is accurate or symbolic. It was actually July 2nd, 1776 that the Continental Congress held a vote on the resolution brought by the Delegate from Virginia- Richard Henry Lee- that said “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.” It was then, after two days of drafting and edits, that the Declaration of Independence was approved and sent to a printer named John Dunlap on July 4th.

Either way, as Americans, we declared 250 years ago that we would not have Kings, giving rise to a more common debate showcased this last weekend, as some 8 million people exercised their First Amendment Right to claim that we have a King in President Donald Trump. The numbers attending the protest have cemented it as the largest protest ever in American History.

However, it is interesting nationally that Democrats have chosen to brand their issues with the current Presidency as a problem with Kings- presumably having issues with the idea of an unelected and non-democratically chosen person leading the country. The hypocrisy of this mentality is what lost Democrats two of the last three Presidential elections.

Looking back to 2016, Bernie Sanders was sending shockwaves across the country. As a candidate, he had invigorated youth voters and set records for single donor monetary contributions never seen before. However, due to his previous Independent Party Status, the DNC operated against Senator Sanders to keep him from winning the nomination, opting to crown a party loyalist and establishment politician Hillary Clinton as Queen. The DNC did everything they could to make sure she secured the nomination, from giving her debate questions ahead of time to ensuring the right number of Super Delegates swung her way at the Convention, and otherwise strategizing on her behalf. The author believes that if Bernie Sanders had been the nominee in 2016 instead of Clinton, there is a very realistic chance the Rust Belt States would have stayed their historic blue with a known union-man and that Donald Trump would have lost that election.

But it didn’t stop in 2016. When it became apparent that President Biden was no longer fit to run for President (or maybe even had the mental capacity to remain President), everyone assumed there would be some Primary Process that would give the Democrats a Nominee. However, at the DNC Convention again delegates were told it “wasn’t the right time” to debate and that Kamala Harris *needed* to be selected as the nominee, while conveniently forgetting she was so unpopular in her 2020 Democrat Primary run she was one of the first candidates to withdraw from contention before ultimately being President Biden’s running mate. 

At two of the most turbulent times in our nation’s history, the DNC turned its back on the very principles of Democracy and the process by which Kings are prevented. They chose coronation of party loyalists over the will of their own people, and many Democrats and Independents were so upset by those decisions that they stayed home on Election Day instead of voting at all. The DNC chose a Queen twice instead of allowing their voters to choose their hero, and twice they lost. In the last 20 years, every time a candidate rose through a legitimate Democratic primary, those people (President Obama and President Biden) won. 

There is no person in America today who believes we should have a King. But in the spirit of Moral Consistency, a “No Kings” Protest should realistically be held by Democrats ahead of every DNC Convention for the next decade- just to remind their OWN leaders actually to practice what they preach if they want a chance to win another election. 

“No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.” ~Nathaniel Hawthorne~

Don’t throw stones inside glass houses, and maybe find a better terminology than “No Kings” to protest legitimate political opposition when your own Party has a serial history of ignoring your voice and presenting its own current “Royalty” as the next candidate for President.

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