Sky News contributor Sophie Elsworth says it has been reported Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is forcing his very few staff to address him still as “sir,” despit...
You’re arguing the king is a non-entity, but a king is inevitable? Most people in most places throughout history have lived without one. If you want to look at “civilizations,” the Roman Republic and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy come to mind immediately.
And come on, are you serious? The King endorses genocide and imperialist looting by wearing “his” regalia. All the royal symbols are stolen from the people slaughtered by the monarchy. He could return all the symbols and keep all the wealth…would cost him nothing…good PR even! (I’d still say all of the wealth is stolen and should be given away to help people in the places his ancestors colonized…but luckily he’s saved me the trouble by showing he doesn’t care enough to even give up the symbols)
Mark Carney isn’t the right comparison. The office of Prime Minister is the right comparison to the monarchy, and it’s (at least theoretically) representative.
It’s not the family I care about, it’s the institution. This is like arguing that the KKK hasn’t lynched anyone lately…so can we really hold the institution responsible for the crimes of the people in its past? Like…it’s an institution. OF COURSE we can hold it responsible for the things it does. Every Windsor has the right and ability (and obligation) to abdicate. Children of KKK members also have the right and ability and obligation to leave the organization. I don’t think that’s really an appropriate comparison, the scale of the monarchy’s atrocities is beyond compare. I assume we don’t need to get into ennumerating the crimes of the monarchy, but if you don’t know that we’re talking about a 9-figure scale, we can talk about that more.
If the king abdicated I would applaud him. If he gave away every penny of the royal family’s wealth and then abdicated I’d bow before him, kiss his feet, beg the honor to host him in my home, if he was deprived I’d do my best to feed and house and clothe him myself. I’d be so proud of him, proud that a fellow human being should have that moral fortitude and courage. It’s not him or his bloodline that counts (except to the institution), it’s the institution that’s the problem. FWIW I’d gladly have Harry over for dinner, even though he’s done some half-assed-in-between thing. Good enough for me, given that he’s not the monarch. I don’t hate him because of his Windsor blood. Anyway the king would never do that, so whatever.
I’m not totally clear…you’re acting as if the king does have power, and provides some kind of a-political stability…but earlier you were saying he has no power? If you want him to have no power…why leave him with power? Just take it away. Make the Prime Minister a truly elected position, and have the prime minister actually appoint the Governor General…it’ll work the same as always, but we escape relying on norms, leaving a constitutional crisis sitting there like a chekov’s gun. I still really don’t understand how you don’t see that latent crisis as a problem. You seem to be saying it couldn’t possibly happen (it happened in australia, and again I don’t think we’d ever know the crown was involved if not for the palace letters) and if it’s not impossible it’s easy to handle (it wasn’t easy in australia - they literally just let the monarch dissolve their democratically elected parliament and appoint someone she liked as prime minister. There were massive protests but in the end everyone moved on…you’d say they were weak-willed I guess? Are we weak willed for not immediately pulling the plug upon seeing that?). PLUS we get to separate ourselves from one of the most horrifically murderous institutions in human history? PLUS 64% of Canadians want to abolish the monarchy so it’s inherently desirable? What’s not to love?
It would not take any work to remove the King…at least a lot less work than declaring a GST holiday or whatever. That takes real work. I can write the law right now: “the Queen of Canada is deemed to be a natural person that is not any existing natural person, and is deemed to exercise authority granted to her under statutes of Canada in accordance with a written request of the Prime Minister, published in the Canada Gazette” Boom, done! This would let all other laws in Canada work precisely as they already do, without amendment. The only thing that would change is who the prime minister addresses his “suggestions” to. I wouldn’t mind doing the same thing to the governor general, but that might be a bit more complicated in the handoff between prime ministers, so maybe we just leave it as-is. There is an existing proposal before the HOC that’s a bit more complicated, but whatever.
And look, I’m obviously not saying America is any better, the U.S. is a fascist hellscape despite not having a king, and despite having a relatively robust constitution (things are better here but I don’t think it’s because we don’t have a robust constitution). I’m not sure if you think I’m saying America is any better…
All I’m saying is, Canada would be better than it is.
You’re arguing the king is a non-entity, but a king is inevitable? Most people in most places throughout history have lived without one. If you want to look at “civilizations,” the Roman Republic and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy come to mind immediately.
And come on, are you serious? The King endorses genocide and imperialist looting by wearing “his” regalia. All the royal symbols are stolen from the people slaughtered by the monarchy. He could return all the symbols and keep all the wealth…would cost him nothing…good PR even! (I’d still say all of the wealth is stolen and should be given away to help people in the places his ancestors colonized…but luckily he’s saved me the trouble by showing he doesn’t care enough to even give up the symbols)
Mark Carney isn’t the right comparison. The office of Prime Minister is the right comparison to the monarchy, and it’s (at least theoretically) representative.
It’s not the family I care about, it’s the institution. This is like arguing that the KKK hasn’t lynched anyone lately…so can we really hold the institution responsible for the crimes of the people in its past? Like…it’s an institution. OF COURSE we can hold it responsible for the things it does. Every Windsor has the right and ability (and obligation) to abdicate. Children of KKK members also have the right and ability and obligation to leave the organization. I don’t think that’s really an appropriate comparison, the scale of the monarchy’s atrocities is beyond compare. I assume we don’t need to get into ennumerating the crimes of the monarchy, but if you don’t know that we’re talking about a 9-figure scale, we can talk about that more.
If the king abdicated I would applaud him. If he gave away every penny of the royal family’s wealth and then abdicated I’d bow before him, kiss his feet, beg the honor to host him in my home, if he was deprived I’d do my best to feed and house and clothe him myself. I’d be so proud of him, proud that a fellow human being should have that moral fortitude and courage. It’s not him or his bloodline that counts (except to the institution), it’s the institution that’s the problem. FWIW I’d gladly have Harry over for dinner, even though he’s done some half-assed-in-between thing. Good enough for me, given that he’s not the monarch. I don’t hate him because of his Windsor blood. Anyway the king would never do that, so whatever.
I’m not totally clear…you’re acting as if the king does have power, and provides some kind of a-political stability…but earlier you were saying he has no power? If you want him to have no power…why leave him with power? Just take it away. Make the Prime Minister a truly elected position, and have the prime minister actually appoint the Governor General…it’ll work the same as always, but we escape relying on norms, leaving a constitutional crisis sitting there like a chekov’s gun. I still really don’t understand how you don’t see that latent crisis as a problem. You seem to be saying it couldn’t possibly happen (it happened in australia, and again I don’t think we’d ever know the crown was involved if not for the palace letters) and if it’s not impossible it’s easy to handle (it wasn’t easy in australia - they literally just let the monarch dissolve their democratically elected parliament and appoint someone she liked as prime minister. There were massive protests but in the end everyone moved on…you’d say they were weak-willed I guess? Are we weak willed for not immediately pulling the plug upon seeing that?). PLUS we get to separate ourselves from one of the most horrifically murderous institutions in human history? PLUS 64% of Canadians want to abolish the monarchy so it’s inherently desirable? What’s not to love?
It would not take any work to remove the King…at least a lot less work than declaring a GST holiday or whatever. That takes real work. I can write the law right now: “the Queen of Canada is deemed to be a natural person that is not any existing natural person, and is deemed to exercise authority granted to her under statutes of Canada in accordance with a written request of the Prime Minister, published in the Canada Gazette” Boom, done! This would let all other laws in Canada work precisely as they already do, without amendment. The only thing that would change is who the prime minister addresses his “suggestions” to. I wouldn’t mind doing the same thing to the governor general, but that might be a bit more complicated in the handoff between prime ministers, so maybe we just leave it as-is. There is an existing proposal before the HOC that’s a bit more complicated, but whatever.
And look, I’m obviously not saying America is any better, the U.S. is a fascist hellscape despite not having a king, and despite having a relatively robust constitution (things are better here but I don’t think it’s because we don’t have a robust constitution). I’m not sure if you think I’m saying America is any better…
All I’m saying is, Canada would be better than it is.