The US State Department announced that it will issue limited edition US passports to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States. It contains a portrait and the signature of President Donald Trump. It does not indicate that he is the president.

In determining what to make of this, let us look at the passports issued by the country from which we declared our independence 250 years ago.

In Great Britain, passports contain the following language:

His Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State requests and requires in the name of His Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.

They also contain the king's coat of arms but not his photo. Essentially, when those from Great Britain travel internationally, they do so in the name of the king. Although somewhat archaic, the implication is that those from Great Britain cannot travel without permission from the king. This is a remnant from centuries ago when the king was viewed as ordained to rule by God and in whom all authority was vested.

The United States has always been different. The US was founded on the idea that ultimate authority rests not with a particular individual or family, such as the British king, but with the people. The people themselves have natural rights given to them by God, and government exists to protect these rights. Americans do not enjoy their rights at the sufferance of any particular special individual.

As a result, the people have the right to choose representatives to represent their interests and govern on their behalf. These representatives temporarily exercise authority on behalf of the people. They are mere extensions of the people.

US passports have traditionally reflected this. Front and center, the passport stressed that our government is "of the people, by the people, [and] for the people." On the next page, in enormous font, it said "We the people" before quoting the rest of the preamble to the Constitution. Later, on some visa pages, was a well-known quote from the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Now, nearly an entire page of this limited edition passport features the President glowering at us. Why? Do we get to travel under the protection of the United States only at his whim? Are we honoring him, as if he is some royal ordained by God to rule us?

This is an affront to our constitutional order and our bedrock principle that authority is derived from and ultimately rests with the people. To further rub salt in the wound, the passport does not even identify him as the president, elected to represent and act on behalf of the people. Instead, like a royal decree, we have his signature. It is as if to say that Americans can travel only because King Donald allows it. And to make it even more blatant and insulting, this passport is supposed to commemorate 250 years of self-governance by the people and freedom from the whims of tyrannical monarchy. Instead, here we are apparently honoring a man who seems to view himself as our new king.

This is emblematic of his conduct as president. From having his picture on minted gold coins, to illegally building a palatial ballroom, to renaming buildings for himself, to having his picture displayed on government buildings, the President is seeking to honor and style himself not as a civil servant to his fellow Americans, but as a king above us, whose whims and desires are law. That this is tolerated and even supported by millions claiming to belong to the party of constitutional conservatism is the hypocritical cherry on top.

The president should be respected as the top official chosen by our fellow citizens to see that our laws are carried out, but he should not be glorified as our all-powerful better. A nation whose people permit or even defend such conduct is a sick nation that has come unmoored from its civic heritage. In real time, we are squandering the freedom and tradition that Americans have fought for and defended for two and a half centuries. At this rate, it seems unlikely we will have it for much longer.