Monarchy Of England
Ice-Phoenix
Join Date: 2004-09-18 Member: 31775Members
in Discussions
<div class="IPBDescription">whats the point</div> ok i am excepting the fact alot of you are american and otherplaces and frankly dont give a c*** but i thought i'd make this serious topic!
What exactly is the point of our monarchy i mean ok back in the old days it was good it inspired people and people fought for queen and country, but nowadays theres no need for it i mean honestly all the royal family do is just sit around all day doing jack s*** and stealing hard earned money.. its ridiculous as its the goverment that does all the work... and tony blair is a idiot so if england are to survive then we need to sort-out our goverment and monarchy..if there should be one.
also i find americans patriotic and that they inspire me more then my own country.
americans have sense of pride for there country that no other has and that is inspiring
What exactly is the point of our monarchy i mean ok back in the old days it was good it inspired people and people fought for queen and country, but nowadays theres no need for it i mean honestly all the royal family do is just sit around all day doing jack s*** and stealing hard earned money.. its ridiculous as its the goverment that does all the work... and tony blair is a idiot so if england are to survive then we need to sort-out our goverment and monarchy..if there should be one.
also i find americans patriotic and that they inspire me more then my own country.
americans have sense of pride for there country that no other has and that is inspiring
Comments
Watch <i>The West Wing</i>, and then compare that to <i>Yes, Minister</i> and <i>The New Statesman</i>. You'll see what I mean.
My personal opinion is that it started as an attempt to keep everyone happy. The people wanted the power, but they wanted a figurehead to appear "powerful".
Now it has degraded into an elite social stardom group dictated by who's blood is in your veins. It is a popularity contest with no other contestants.
However, it does serve it's purpose. "The masses" need someone to place on a pedistal - it makes them happy, makes them feel like they are apart of something bigger. In essence, your monarchy makes your country special.
everyone happy, no?
I love it <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
And no offence to the USA, but personally having a flag on your house doesnt say anything.
I am English and there are many, good points to the monarchy.
1st of all it's a tradition. Getting rid of the queen would cause our national heritage to fade away. Consider getting rid of thanksgiving or something, and that is sort of what it would be like (Think massive money changes, removing the Queen’s face. We would probably go to the Euro).
2nd of all, the Queen brings in one hell of a lot of money to our country. The money she creates by tourism more than doubles what she spends per year (republicans greatly exaggerate the spending figures).
3rd, the queen does have control of some significant constitutional functions, along with that fact that she rules the commonwealth.
4th, I feel proud to be English, my friends feel proud to be English. England is one of the smallest places in the world and yet it ruled 2/3rds of all land. The monarchy is a symbol of this.
Ach! Sorry, I've just read how angry this is, i'm not trying to flame or anything, im just, saying my side of the discussion
altho i do wish the queen would do more then sap all our money.. she doesn't exactly bring glory to the world does she she sits around and watches tv and makes apperances god.. if i was famous i'd make apperances etc, but i wudn't sap peoples hard earned money!!!
The Queen does not have superpowers, unlike the Pope. What do you expect her to do except smile and wave?
3rd, the queen does have control of some significant constitutional functions, along with that fact that she rules the commonwealth.
<!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
As an American I would be terrified of putting any constitutional powers in the hands of someone whose family retained power through inbreeding.
The most influence the Royal Family has on politics is during the queen's weekly audience with the PM. She can't <i>order</i> Blair to do anything, though; otherwise, chances are that this anti-hunting bill would be getting passed.
I'm more concerned with appointed civil servants given lots of power than I am the Royals. Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson, for example.
What exactly is the point of our monarchy i mean ok back in the old days it was good it inspired people and people fought for queen and country, but nowadays theres no need for it i mean honestly all the royal family do is just sit around all day doing jack s*** and stealing hard earned money.. its ridiculous as its the goverment that does all the work... and tony blair is a idiot so if england are to survive then we need to sort-out our goverment and monarchy..if there should be one.
Also I find Americans patriotic and that they inspire me more then my own country.
Americans have sense of pride for there country that no other has and that is inspiring <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Tone it down a bit and try and be a little respectful. Ignorance is one thing, blatant disrespectful ignorance is another.
The point of a monarchy is tradition. The main source of legitimacy of government in the UK is tradition; here in the United states, legitimacy lies within the constitution. In British eyes, they see the royal family as a tradition, which enforces the legitimacy of their government. Unlike many other democracy’s around where they have a written constitution, the UK has a unwritten constitution. Many MP's use tradition as a guiding tool in setting boundaries and structure of policy, while here in the US we use the constitution.
While in many American eyes, this may seem absurd, the British see quite differently.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->The Queen does not have superpowers, unlike the Pope. What do you expect her to do except smile and wave? <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
lol snidely i mean all she does is sit around all day, occasionally going out to way at people. but she probably sits around all day shopping on price-drop tv o.O stupid if u ask me the womens got money pouring out her ears, but ontop of that the monarchys abit dodgey with price charles and everything cos nobody shows him respect in fact the only royal alot of people liked was princess diana, who infact was married into the family and sadly killed off by prince charles, or so the newspaper says with the letters found etc
If you believe everything you hear in the tabloids, I'm going to declare you a sucker. I'm sorry, it's nothing personal. Do you honestly, truely believe that Charles had Diana killed? Because that's just conspiratal nonsense. I feel sorry for Diana; not only did the paparazzi all but kill her, but they're still making money off her death.
Australia recently had a referendum to decide whether to become a republic and sever our bonds with england (it was defeated).
I reckon the monarchy is a great tradition which is very much associated with England. At the same time as having this figurehead, they have a government elected by the people, so the practicality is still there.
You shouldn't mess with tradition too much or you start creating government departments to reduce the number of words in the vocabulary. Tradition is a grand thing and part of England's history.
However, Australia is a different matter: i reckon that Australia should become a republic just for the sheer purpose of making ourselves clearly seperate from Britan. No offence, I certainly don't mean that we should sever all ties with britain, but a new system is required on certain levels. For instance, in 1975 the governer general, the queens representitive, dismissed a democratically elected government because the opposition had a majority in the upper house and managed to defer on granting the government supply and apropriation bills. Effectively, the Queen of England dismissed an Australian Government. Just think about the implications of that.
and think of it this way: if we become a republic we can't own you all at the commonwealth games har har har!
About 3?
Try 7.
(around) July 1997 was when she died.
Back to the original point.
I don't really have a strong view on the Royal Family. On the one hand, they are tradition, they are a major representative of our country and they attract tourists. On The other hand, they are not actually english, they <i>seem</i> to have very little say on how the country is run, and, for all intents and purposes, they just sit on their thrones soaking up tax payer's money.
For all their apparent uselesness, England just wouldn't be England without them, it would lose something no Tony Blair or George Bush could ever replace. I say we keep them.
I love it <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
And no offence to the USA, but personally having a flag on your house doesnt say anything. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm english there is no point. Monarchy is an effective way at controlling small state countries like england and other european nations. In other words monarchy is a centralised government in which the the power is in one point.
(Edward) Abit like the Overmind
It would not quite work in North america because the country is too big and fragmented to hold any value
The british had a huge empire held together by the central monarchy that lasted a very long time. That included the US.
EDIT: added quote for flow and clarity
It wouldn't work in the united states not because its a big country, it's because a monarchy has no legitimacy in the eyes of 21 century Americans.
In fact, the ideology of conservatism came from England, from Edmund Burke who advocated a respect to tradition and slow gradual change.
So what you have a monarchy who has lost all it's power, yet retained all of it's figurehead signifigance. Someday it may be removed, but not in this generation of people.
England is all about slow, gradual change.
Also, look at common law, invented by England... as others have pointed out the English rely on common law (law established through tradition) to govern themselves, which is a further testamount to their tradition to conservatism.
God bless the Brits eh? Because god knows how much I love conservatism
in england?