The Tragedy of Monarchy

    I'm writing this post the day Queen Elizabeth II died. I have to say, it feels weird to say that. I knew she wasn't going to last forever of course, but when you see her every time the UK gets brought up on the news, even if she doesn't do much that's politically significant, it's strange to think that she's not going to be on the news anymore. 

     I have no strong feelings on Queen Elizabeth as either a person or a monarch. Seeing people reacting to her death online made me realize that I have very strong feelings on monarchy. I think it should be abolished, and not just for the reasons people think.

    Many people have pointed out very valid reasons to not have a monarchy. Ordinary people have no say in government, it's hard to remove a corrupt ruler, and the only method of career advancement is to wait for the King/Queen to die. I think that, especially in the UK, there's another reason that's not nearly as important, but I feel like I should bring up; no monarch gets a say on whether or not they want to be king. Sure, you can abdicate, but if you do it's your fault if the country collapses without a clear path of succession. Once you're on the throne, you're responsible for everything that goes wrong in your country unless you're a figurehead. Because you have all of your country's power and most of its wealth, people don't feel sorry for you if your unhappy and if you legitimately can't do your job then people only get angry at you. 

    Elected officials have a lot of the same problems, but at least they chose to be in charge. They went to school, signed up to be on the ballot, an campaigned to win people's attention. If someone becomes president, then you know they wanted their job. They still have a lot of pressure on them to not screw up, and nothing stops someone who thinks he's destined to run the country even if he couldn't manage a McDonalds, but it helps keep the apathetic ones out of office and I think that goes a long way. 

   I'm not saying that I feel sorry for Queen Elizabeth. I don't get the impression that she was ever unhappy with her job and I know she worked hard to keep the monarchy in the UK going even though people kept saying that they ought to get rid of it. As much as I found royal weddings annoying, I find it hard to not feel a little fondness for someone I see a lot on the news. I agree with most people that the UK should abolish the monarchy, peacefully of course. I'm sure their all nice, but there are better ways to become a celebrity and I've seen a lot of former monarchs who appear to be happier. There are way to many people who don't have a say in who they are, I think if we can fix that for a few people at least, that's only a good thing.