[Heyworth]

My State was first populated by the Royal sovereign in 1609. Our first elected government seated itself, under permission of the Crown, in 1619. We have 400 years of experience in civil governance

Sorry, but all I can think of is the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail when Arthur says, "The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king."

[detsaoT]

Sorry, but all I can think of is the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail when Arthur says, "The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king."

I'm Henry the Eighth, I am!
Henry the Eighth I am! I am!
I got married to the widow next door,
She's been married seven times before.
Every one was a Henry
She wouldn't have a Willie or a Sam
I'm her eighth old man named Henry
Henry the Eighth I am.

[rustbucket]

Sorry, but all I can think of is the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail when Arthur says, "The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king."

Are you sure that wasn't Lincoln? After all, he assumed legislative and judical powers as well as his elected executive powers. Those are the powers of a king.

Or as Madison said in Federalist 47:

The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.