At our last meeting, the question came up of Milton's relationship to England's absolute monarchy, its authority rooted in the "divine right of kings," and the turbulent institutional transition going on in 17th century England to a broader parliamentary mode that governed while representing the sovereign will of the people.
Everyone at the moment is finding all sorts of analogs and parallels to the recent actions in Tunisia, Cairo and Jordan, so why not we? In a certain sense, the Middle East today can be seen as beginning that difficult transition that shook England so powerfully 350 years ago.
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