I wish to clarify my “autocracy” comment, based on how I was taught. AAF correctly describes our distributed system. I do get to choose my rav – but I have to follow his mandates. When he doesn’t know, he goes up the chain to ask – and has to comply.
In the past, your rav was whoever was in charge locally. If you didn’t like your rav or beis din, the only recourse was to move somewhere else – not always easy or possible. We have mpre choice now, but the basic idea did not change.
The American Founders rejected the concept of “daas Torah” that must be followed without argument. They rejected the notion that authority figures “know best”. What they set up was a government, the goal was to protect the rights of the individual to make his/her own decisions – but without anarchy and lawlessness. That has also changed, either due to legitimate need or government overreach. Though some think that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution should disappear, tens of millions in America (like those angry parents) still hold those truths to be self-evident.