The origins of American ideas of freedom go back to at least 1215 AD. In that year a group of English nobles forced King John to renounce the concept of the “Divine Right of Kings,” a  doctrine under which medieval kings claimed the right to do literally anything they pleased, under the belief that their absolute power was bestowed upon them directly by God.

If recent events are a guide, most Americans don’t understand what a pernicious doctrine this was. If we understood the dangers of the Divine Rights doctrine we would react more strongly when our current President shows similar tendencies.
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