Look at the parts of the world that don’t have empires, don’t have kings. The Native Americans have Coyote. The aboriginal australians have the Rainbow Serpent. The Polynesians have Maui. Not tyrants.
Now look at the parts of the world that do have human tyrants. The Greeks have Zeus. The Egyptians have Ramses. The Mayans had Kukulkan. People worship gods that resemble their own leaders and their own natural environment.
The only exception to drag’s theory is Asia. China had huge empires, but Buddha isn’t a tyrant. Maybe the Jade Emperor is; drag doesn’t know as much about Tao as drag would like. Anyone got reading suggestions for getting into Taoist mythology? (Other than Journey To The West. Already love that story)
Don’t forget that the pharaohs were explicitly believed to be incarnations of Ra or Amun or whoever was on top of the pile that millenium, or that divine heirarchies and rights often deliberately mirror the base attitudes of the society that created them in the first place, and how could they not? They’re a product of the culture, same as anything else.
I don’t think OP expressed the idea well but there’s definitely a grain of truth in there.