That applies unless great men are tethered by a moral code. George Washington could have been a king, but he turned it down. After Washington’s stunning victory at Trenton at the end of 1776, Congress gave Washington virtually dictatorial powers to prosecute the war effort.
Washington responded as follows: “Instead of thinking myself free’d from all civil Obligations, by this mark of their Confidence, I shall constantly bear in Mind, that as the Sword was the last Resort for the preservation of our Liberties,︀ so it ought to be the first thing laid aside, when those Liberties are firmly︁ established.”
Why? He was a godly man, tethered by the moral code of the Holy︂ Bible.