There is a fundamental mistake at the heart of most political thinking, shared by monarchists and republicans, conservatives and revolutionaries alike: They confuse power with its costume. The crown—whether literal or symbolic, whether worn by a king, a party, a president, or “the state”—is widely treated as the source of authority. This is wrong. The crown does not generate power. It merely disguises it. Power does not originate from symbols, offices, constitutions, elections, revolutions, o...
