Sunday, June 21, 2009

Could I Live Where There's a Queen?

On my recent hop across the pond (told you I wouldn't shut up about it) I went to see Buckingham Palace and even got a sighting of Balmoral, and I joke about getting a summer house in Scotland. But, could I really live under a reign of a royal family. I don't think so.

I have just a wee bit of a problem with the whole idea that it is one person's God given birth right to rule over others. This even used to extend from the Royal family and into the House of Lords. Born to rule. Some sense has been obtained and the House of Lords is now mainly appointed. Not elected. Appointed. By who? The Lords on the appointment committee. Makes it so much better dontcha think? I don't believe I could ever resign myself to the idea of being governed by somebody who is only there because of the family they were born into. We may have people here (Ted Kennedy anyone?)that think ruling is their birthright, but they still have to get us to buy into it and elect them. Unfortunately, they often succeed. But at least they are in office because we're idiots and not because it's their God given right.

Ordained by God is what they say. But how do they know that. With all of the overthrows and changes of power, all of the uprisings and wars and intermarriages, how can they still believe that THEY are ordained by God? Wasn't Lady Jane Grey ordained by God? And they had her beheaded. What if the rule of England should still be with the Stuarts? My overly logical mind can't fathom the idea of believing that somebody was born to rule just because of the their parents.

There may be people who were born to rule. They have God given TALENTS that make them great leaders. Unfortunately, either few of them seek public office or we don't recognize them when they do. But at least here we have the power to vote out ALL of our officials. We do not have to wait for the President to die and hope his heir is a better ruler.

And then there's the Prime Minister. There was a lot of news on the tele while I was over there about Gordon Brown and his party losing support and whether Gordon Brown would still be Prime Minister. I tried to research how the Prime Minister is determined, but couldn't quite figure it out. So feel free to comment if you know and can explain it. But it appeared to me that the Prime Minister is the ruler of the party in power, so if you're in power, you're really in power. Could you imagine if your President was determined not by our free election but by whichever party held Congress. Not much of a checks and balances situation. Although, I could be wrong about how the whole PM thing works. It has been known to happen.

So as much as I loved Scotland and it's scenery, as much as I would love to be able to go there whenever I wanted and stay as long as I wanted, could I ever consider myself a citizen of the UK. Nope, I don't think so.

I really believe that "all men are created equal" and believing that, how could I ever come to terms with the idea that members of my government were created "better"? I can't. I may not agree with everything the government does here, but at least I feel secure in my ability to affect change. So when it comes right down to it, I can never be anything but what I am. A red blooded American to the tips of my stubby white toes. And I thank God for it.

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