Absolutism

I can´t remember how old I was. Nor the school year. But when I was a kid I studied Ancient History and Contemporary History. I remember the books. Hardcover. I like History. They say that it is always told by the victors but I don´t really care as long as it is attractive, like many passages of the Bible. When I was a kid I read the Bible. I also read the Popol Vuh. Just like I read The Capital. But in the books of history there was always a term that, probably, vanished from the Cuban school leaflets: absolutism, that is, the absolute mandate of a king in accordance with the divine law, that is, for God´s will. If it is God who commands there is no problem. At least He is someone or something we don´t know or see on television. He doesn´t give long speeches or proclaims himself God. The existence of God may be consequence of others´ emptiness who, back in time, needed to believe in something, to cling on to something. The interesting thing is that there are still crowds who believe in God. And it is even more interesting that crowds applaud the existence of a Pope or the kings.

Kings are kings forever, for generations of generations. For some eventful reason that presupposes discoveries or who found who, Canada has a Queen. She and her heir come to visit, sometimes. There are always protests because nobody understands that Canada has a Queen. That is ancient history. Just like the word absolutism exists, there is also the word democracy. Democracy means, plainly, that the people has the capacity and right to vote for that person who will govern, right or wrong, the nation. And Canada never had kings. There were aboriginal chiefs, and it was a vast deserted land, and still is. Recently, the prince and his wife came to Canada. Later the Queen herself showed up. Watching at the protests on TV I started thinking that those protests really make no sense. The Queen or her heir can´t decide on anything regarding Canada. Her absolutism is kind of virtual. With all that pompous scaffolding, they cannot come to tell Canadians what to do.

I think of my country. I wonder what is the word that better suits to whatever prevails over there. It is not absolutism, because those who rule the country don´t even believe in God. There was a time when believing in God was a crime in the Island. It shouldn´t be democracy because I never voted for he who governs. Or those who govern. I voted for someone in my neighbourhood who would go later and vote for some other person who would vote for another person who would get to the National Assembly to decide who would be the President. But certainly, between absolutism and democracy, the first word gets closer. Anyway, the existence of God is a relatively questionable matter.