** Reply to message from Howard Winter <HDRW@hibernaculum.org.uk> on Wed, 17
Aug 2005 12:33:27 +0100 (BST)
> Stan,
>
> On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 22:20:14 +0300, Stan Goodman wrote:
>
> >...<
> >Whereas in contrast, of course, there is somewhere on the planet a country
> >whose legislators are all altruists who had public office thrust upon them, so
> >that they didn't campaign, and who could not care less if they are reelected or
> >not.
>
> Well Monarchies can be like that - you inherit the job without asking for it - but some famous former kings
> were susceptible to the "power corrupts" problem. But still, a "Good King" (or Queen) is probably the best
> political system I can think of - it's how you achieve it that is the problem!
>
> Cheers,
To put it another way: As Winston Churchill said, "Democracy is the worst form
of government .... except for all the others".
European monarchies, for example, tend to be rather more benign than they were
some centuries ago. One is inclined to believe that the reason for this is that
the monarchs are all figureheads representing the sovereignty of the state,
while the real _authority_ of the state resides in an elected legislature. That
may be biassing your view of monarchies.
But why inspect only European monarchies, seeing that there are examples of The
Real Thing available, e.g. the one in Saudia, land of golden bathroom fixtures
(if you are a prince of the Blood) and floggings (or worse), and where there
are no women drivers making the few roads more hazardous for the guys.
Saudia, of course, is an isolated example, because it has been a stable dynasty
for decades. But it is in the nature of monarchies to experience what we now
call "regime change" whenever possible (read your Shakespeare). Nowadays, those
who arrange these changes no longer style themselves "kings", because the job
title has gone out of fashion, and they call themselves "presidents", but the
job _description_ remains the same, and they are monarchs as much as was
Richard III or Josef Stalin. If you think it is A Good Thing to live in such a
place, there are many for your to chose from, most in climates more mild than
your own.
--
Stan Goodman
Qiryat Tiv'on
Israel
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