God didnt choose these kings, and “divine right” is not a justification for ruling that has been generally accepted. It is purely a philosophical argument from the 16th century. No medieval king would have asserted his right in this manner, it would have been blasphemy. The king was king because there always had been kings, his legitimacy came from pre-Christian customary law, and the acquiesence of the people.
Paine, unfortunately, assumed that people would or could order their opinions through reason (”common sense”). Maybe some can, but certainly not everyone, not all the time, and some societies, arguably never.
“Paine, unfortunately, assumed that people would or could order their opinions through reason (”common sense”).”
Common sense is what is missing in over one third of our population these days, names the leftists, communists, socialists, and the Party they hide within, the Dems.
Monarchy is a form of social contract that is more complex than what you get with periodic voting. But it is a social contract anyway, where all layers of the society collaborate to create a just government the best they can. Because the monarch is to pass the monarchic title to his child, the monarch naturally puts the long term interest of his country first, much more often than a 4-year term professional politician would. Hence the advantage of monarchies. After 2-3 centuries of experimentation with governments run by professional politician, I think, the future will see restoration of monarchies nearly everywhere.