A nation of supplicants

Read Rob at SayAnything: 

What is going on now reminds me of how monarchs throughout history would set aside special days where their subjects could come and ask them to grant favors, everything from requests for “the Divine Touch” to cure diseases to requests for patronage or mediation in land disputes.  The supplicants would be led in one by one, and the monarch would rule on their cases.

Granted, our political leaders today are granted their power through election and not some sort of divine right, but we’re still creating a situation where government is so all-powerful that citizens are not empowered to set their own destinies.  Instead they, more and more, must line up to supplicate the political class for permission, subsidy and succor.