It's the royal wedding today. (Wow, really? We hadn't noticed. Thank you so much for telling us, Sam, otherwise we'd have been in the dark all day!)
*ahem*
The presence of the wedding has given a lot of people the opportunity to say "oh em gee, why do we even have a royal family, it's sooooo undemocratic and oppressive and stuff". Which is silly, because the Royals don't actually get involved with the government in any way. If you want to attack an institution which is manipulating the government without our consent, then pick your favourite out of the trade union's congress and any huge investor from the business sector.
Lots of countries have heads of state which act as figureheads and don't really do anything, and lots of those heads of state are appointed, not elected. Among them is Spain, Canada, Norway, Japan- some of the most famously liberal and/or well-run countries in the world. The royals aren't the problem. Don't distract us from the real democracy-leeches by getting all hot and bothered about Liz, Charlie, Will and Kate. It's pointless and annoys me.
*ahem*
The presence of the wedding has given a lot of people the opportunity to say "oh em gee, why do we even have a royal family, it's sooooo undemocratic and oppressive and stuff". Which is silly, because the Royals don't actually get involved with the government in any way. If you want to attack an institution which is manipulating the government without our consent, then pick your favourite out of the trade union's congress and any huge investor from the business sector.
Lots of countries have heads of state which act as figureheads and don't really do anything, and lots of those heads of state are appointed, not elected. Among them is Spain, Canada, Norway, Japan- some of the most famously liberal and/or well-run countries in the world. The royals aren't the problem. Don't distract us from the real democracy-leeches by getting all hot and bothered about Liz, Charlie, Will and Kate. It's pointless and annoys me.
Good points; but all these problems are one's that can be solved without abolishing the family altogether. We can get a constitution written which limits their power (like Japan's), change the national anthem, etc. if you met the queen and didn't bow, I'm sure there wouldn't actually be much of a fuss. :L We the People of Britain have done far more offensive things regarding Liz and her family than walking past her without bending over.
ReplyDeleteI don't hold that opinion of anti-royalists either; sorry if it came across that way.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what else I can add to this argument which I haven't already said. But essentially, I still maintain the conclusion that the royals are harmless, not least because if they ever tried to convert their ceremonial power into real power, they would be disposed of fairly swiftly.