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by tonyblundell 4702 days ago
I'd be interested to hear more on this. At the minute I'm not sure what dire circumstances you mean, or how having a leader implies a threat of war. It seems like a lot of what you wrote could be applied to any leader of any nation.

I went through a vehement anti-monarchy phase when I was younger, since then I'm starting to appreciate the idea of a head of state who isn't a career politician that campaigned or even bought their way into office.
2 comments
seclorum 4702 days ago
The human proclivity towards cult behaviour is what I'm talking about. The UK Royals have no real function other than to promote the English personality, as a cultural artifact, to their subjects. In that regard, it functions as a cult, one of the most effective in the world, for promulgating collective reality.

This, after all, is how wars get started.

Edit: the dire circumstances being, of course, WW3 - the subject of the Queens' speech.

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arethuza 4702 days ago
I'd prefer that we had a ceremonial President like Germany, Ireland or Israel.

Having said that, I prefer having the Royals to an elected non-ceremonial Head of State. Having the Head of State separate from the head of the executive branch of government seems like a good idea to me.

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