The burden of ruling without God affected his mental health.

Then Samuel said: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.” Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. (1Sa 15:22-24 NKJ)

Saul saw himself as the source of everything, even seeing himself as superseding God, much to his demise. Saul was not just, being persuaded by the will and opinions of the people.  Such a burden placed him at odds with God, who only required obedience.

Would America function as a theocracy, a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God? Of the top seven countries, six are Islamic; only the Vatican operates as a theocracy. The thought of the Church ruling, claiming to hear from God is scary.  Even scarier is the fact that democracy’s in the US and across Europe are failing with 46% of the US population happy to hand over control to a ‘Saul’ like figure.

 http://www.pewglobal.org/2017/10/16/globally-broad-support-for-representative-and-direct-democracy/

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-theocratic-governments-today.html

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/02/nordic-countries-top-democratic-rankings-2017/