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Abolish the Monarchy - Shaun
- Thread starter Naijaboy
- Start date
I think we've got better things to do than give the right-wing leaning folk another ideological rallying point.
shaun is one of the coolest dudes of all time
And as for the content of the video, from a US perspective, yeah i agree with him. Even if you want to be rich or be born into a life of money, being treated as literally above others from an official social perspective just because centuries ago your family subjugated others just rings sour to me.
We have enough of a hard time with elite oligarchs trying to destroy and take from the downtrodden. We dont need to worship them as gods and literal kings too
And as for the content of the video, from a US perspective, yeah i agree with him. Even if you want to be rich or be born into a life of money, being treated as literally above others from an official social perspective just because centuries ago your family subjugated others just rings sour to me.
We have enough of a hard time with elite oligarchs trying to destroy and take from the downtrodden. We dont need to worship them as gods and literal kings too
Yes, abolish the monarchy. When so many people are so poor it's disgusting to have a family living in inherited privilege.
Get rid of them and England loses a LOT of tourism money.
Which we're going to need after this Brexit bollocks,
Which we're going to need after this Brexit bollocks,
From a political perspective absolutely but otherwise they are a net positive for the UK. The royals are just puppets who put on a show to please people and bring in tourists.
Another great video by shaun.
If the UK changed up it's consitution that would be something great, I'm a huge proponent of electoral reform and a common talking point is not just the monarchy but also the House of Lords to be replaced with a second elected question (My main question would be how would the second chamber work and what would they do?). As for the Royal Household, they can just maintain the historical sites, they don't need the Queen or King to be there, I doubt tourists actually care, it's just the pomp and circumstance.
If the UK changed up it's consitution that would be something great, I'm a huge proponent of electoral reform and a common talking point is not just the monarchy but also the House of Lords to be replaced with a second elected question (My main question would be how would the second chamber work and what would they do?). As for the Royal Household, they can just maintain the historical sites, they don't need the Queen or King to be there, I doubt tourists actually care, it's just the pomp and circumstance.
Pretty sure the French royal properties get plenty of tourists. I think the Palace of Varsaille brings in more revenue than Buckingham Palace, because it's open year round and isn't squatted on by some old biddy most of the year.
Do you REALLY need a money grubbing historical fossil for people to come to the UK, is that REALLY true?
I may sound stupid saying this, but...how feasible would it be to have the goverment the UK has now...just without the royal family. I mean they mostly operate on a functional government without the royal family anyways correct?
It's cobblers, how many get to see the Queen doing anything. Let's get a load of rich numbnuts spending tens of thousands to stay at Buckingham Palace, the state will make a fortune.
This was my train of thought previously. With the current shitshow laying bare many of our constitutional weaknesses, however, I think we do need a complete reboot of our entire system.
Inherited privilege doesn't end with the death of a monarchy.
Too much riff-raff in here trying to overthrow our blessed Ruler. Long may she reign!
Royalty does not waste time on the opinions of filthy peasants!
/s
Royalty does not waste time on the opinions of filthy peasants!
/s
The royal family being a tourism boost is a common assertion but the actual evidence is inconclusive and most versions of the argument implicitly assume that tourists will be uninterested in visiting sites like Buckingham Palace without a royal family living there, despite palaces in formerly monarchical countries like France and China seeing more visitors than their counterparts in the UK. Not that royal sites are the main attraction for tourists in the UK even with an active royal family.
The other thing that always bothered me about Grey's video on the subject (which is 7.5 years old now; damn) is that he acts like abolition of the monarchy would not also entail nationalization of the crown estate because ... reasons ... even though that's generally how transitioning away from being a monarchy works.
The other thing that always bothered me about Grey's video on the subject (which is 7.5 years old now; damn) is that he acts like abolition of the monarchy would not also entail nationalization of the crown estate because ... reasons ... even though that's generally how transitioning away from being a monarchy works.
Yup. A proper reform package of the UK Constitution would be welcomed, especially in light of the fundamental problems that have been laid bare these past few years.
Just on its own, abolishing the monarchy is in that 'eh, whatever' part of my mind. I wouldn't defend them if it happened, but I'm not going to campaign for them to go. It'd probably just lead to more problems right now, and they're politically harmless.
You can't just arbitrarily seize their property though, so there would need to be some sort of settlement. That'd be costly even for just the Crown Estate, let alone the still privately owned land.
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I think his point is, how do we fill that symbolic gap? Do we have an elected, figurehead President in that role? Does the PM formally absorb Royal Perogative powers? Do we use the opportunity to massively re-jig a legislative system that's not had any major changes since 1911, when the House of Lords' secondary status was confirmed? What happens to the Lords without a peerage system?
I fail to see where's the line between inheriting say, a billion dollars, or a crown.
Actually, the crown seems to come with major hassles and shit.
If you want to go down that road - "It's wrong because it's hereditary" - Let's get down to billion+ inheritances first, please.
I mean, i watched the video, and it doesn't really make any sense. He has a problem with anyone inherediting massive wealth, not with the royals in particular, so why single them out?
Actually, the crown seems to come with major hassles and shit.
If you want to go down that road - "It's wrong because it's hereditary" - Let's get down to billion+ inheritances first, please.
I mean, i watched the video, and it doesn't really make any sense. He has a problem with anyone inherediting massive wealth, not with the royals in particular, so why single them out?
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Yeah we have a monarchy in The Netherlands too. It's ancient nonsense. Like religion.
But the alternatives aren't so great either. It's more of a symbolic function right now. But it still costs a shitload of money.
It makes no sense, but i kinda like parts of it.
But the alternatives aren't so great either. It's more of a symbolic function right now. But it still costs a shitload of money.
It makes no sense, but i kinda like parts of it.
Don't mind the Royals. They're a nice distraction from the absolute shit show of politics we have.
Also, I don't think we should get rid of the House of Lords either, as it has been made abundantly clear that having everything governed by a majority rules government leads to the absolute bollocks we have with Brexit. Having elected people in the Lords likely would have had whatever Theresa twat face going through completely unchallenged as the Will of the People seems to enjoy destroying itself.
Also, I don't think we should get rid of the House of Lords either, as it has been made abundantly clear that having everything governed by a majority rules government leads to the absolute bollocks we have with Brexit. Having elected people in the Lords likely would have had whatever Theresa twat face going through completely unchallenged as the Will of the People seems to enjoy destroying itself.
I would imagine that if the monarchy is ever abolished it would be part of a raft of constitutional changes that also abolish the Peerage. Having the a Queen without having Lords is possible, but the reverse strikes me as rather silly (though it's sort of happened in some European countries where formerly aristocratic families keep using titles). Having a ceremonial president like Germany, among other parliamentary republics, is probably the most likely outcome, though you don't truly need a single person to serve as head of state. The Swiss get along fine without one.
ETA: Missed this, sorry.
The crown estate is not normal privately-owned land. It's in a weird grey area because of the duality of the monarch as head of state and the royal family as a group of individual citizens. Abolishing the monarchy would involve a lot of constitutional and legal changes, further making this an exceptional case.
They are, but arguments will still be had over whether to create a President, reboot Parliament, or carry on with how things are now.
Absolutely - those reforms would be needed though. One thing getting rid of the Monarchy would highlight is the silly amount of power the PM in some areas has thanks to Royal Perogative. I know at the moment the Queen basically has to do what she's told there, but if that's just transferred wholesale it would get rid of that symbolic separation.
Imagine if the PM could still call the election at will (if the law hadn't changed a few years back)
So who gets the Royal Prerogative powers? The PM? Because if laws can be passed by Parliament entirely on it's own, and Parliament is entirely sovereign, we've got an even more powerful elected dictatorship and unlike Germany we don't have a written constitution so theoretically anything could be passed.
Definitely abolish them, I can't believe Canada is still under British occupation. I am surprised though he responded to a 7 year old video.,
He made the video for you specifically as he says in the first 3 minutes of the video. Have you watched it?
Sure, which is entirely doable, but just further strengthens the point that you can't just strip the Queen of her role as Head of State. There's a lot of reform that'd need to follow.
Do you mean CGP Grey? He is alt right???
Edit: Oh you were saying CGP Grey ISN'T alt right. Awesome, cause I really like that guys videos and would hate if I had to drop him
Edit: Oh you were saying CGP Grey ISN'T alt right. Awesome, cause I really like that guys videos and would hate if I had to drop him
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Using the fact that the UK does not presently have a written constitution as an argument against the workability of a (highly unlikely) hypothetical scenario that would only be possible with sweeping constitutional changes--probably including the adoption of a formal constitution regardless of what form the new head of state takes--is kind of weird.
Balmoral maybe not, the rest of it is theirs because of politics, if we're at the point of abolishing the monarchy the settlement will be they don't need to pay the trillion in debt the state/crown owes.
This is a solved problem with many other Westminster systems, very few of whom use actual monarchs (the other British-style constitutional monarchies are Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Lesotho, Tonga, and Japan, with other monarchies existing where the king has more power). You just have an elected and mostly-powerless President.
Getting rid of them wouldn't be a smart move. We earn more money from them than we spend on them. It's beneficial to have them from a purely economical point of view. Culturally they're all icons in their own regards and their various charities and projects help a lot of people that wouldn't have had the help without them
Guess? Yikes
