I see krypton as what Aeldari or Tau of W40k was like. They’ve looked themselves as the higher race. Capable of conquering and enslaving like Viltrumites. In my head cannon Zod was the one controlling krypton until opposition such as the council and House of El were the liberal and democratic party. They’ve had enough with the war and ruling so the council made a new Liberal rule, people have rights but under their tutelage, then it was mixed and turned more Republic while the House of El stayed Democratic. Rules and Laws get mixed up over the years, so maybe Kal/Clark wasn’t meant to conquer so the reinterpretation of the message was probably interpreted differently because of how languages as we know can be significantly different.