Reply #9: well, slightly more grudgingly ... [View All]

[iverglas]

I'm a don't fix it if it isn't broken monarchist. For all the same reasons. Just not with quite the enthusiasm. ;)

I haven't been able to imagine a system that would work better, and hey, if I can't, who could?

There are symbolic benefits as well as the practical ones we do agree on that you have listed.

Some sort of embodiment of the collective entity of "the people" and the state seems to be needed. A piece of parchment or hunk of fabric doesn't quite do the trick. Nor does a George Bush. Some sort of authority has to be attached to it. The authority of the Crown is illegitimate if it is considered in its human embodiment, but legitimate when considered as the expressed will of the people -- as it now is for us, in the 1982 Constitution.