Moments of Permanence - BBC on the different kinds of culture wars

From: sami Date: August 16th, 2011 02:14 am (UTC) (Link)

Oh, I know it was against that model, and another *might* have succeeded, but it would be a rather substantial digression.

That said, that particular model was a hideous nightmare. I'm in favour of constitutional monarchy, because I like that when our government suffers a total breakdown, like America's recently has, we have a final authority, outside the political process, that has no effective power whatsoever except to dissolve the government and throw it back to the people for a new election. It gives our democracy a resilience even against its own flaws.

But even if I were a republican, I would have voted against that one. The president having the power to sack the prime minister and the prime minister having the power to sack the president? That right there is the recipe for a farcical breakdown of *everything* all by itself...

I think blaming Howard entirely is unfair, mind you. He didn't write the proposed constitution, the constitutional convention did, and it was terrible. And if we're going to be voting on constitutional change to the extent that becoming a republic would involve, I do rather think that we should be voting on the constitution, not on the generic principle of "monarchy or republic". Because what kind of republic is a very important question.

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