Not surprisingly, Grotius, the Remonstrant, opposed the political interference of the Reformed church, and his De imperio, like its predecessors Ordinum pietas (published in 1613) and Tractatus de iure magistratuum circa ecclesiastica (completed in 1614 but never published), argued that the summa potestas, the supreme power or civil state, enjoyed ultimate authority in religious matters.

Thus, as public opinion is consistently explored and the elected officials are inclined scrupulously to follow it, American democracy increasingly becomes direct democracy--if not de iure, then de facto.

For 30 years the CCCB has been instrumental in suppressing de facto (not de iure each bishop's right to be the main teacher in his diocese, to replace him with a flood of oracular statements.