In the words of the British anthem, God Save the Queen, we often wonder from what it is that God is supposed to save her. If it is to keep her around a little longer, God has already done a damn fine job. If she lives as long as her mother did, Queen Elizabeth II is good for quite a few more years. If she can just outlive her successor, she might give the monarchy a chance for a couple more decades.
At 84, the woman is going strong. Her minders are very careful of her and it is quite unlikely that she will inadvertently get run over by a wayward lorry in the Buckingham Palace parking lot. As boss of all the royals in England, she rules them by giving them just enough rope to hang themselves but never enough to besmirch the entire clan. As a betting person (horse parlays a specialty) she has placed her confidence in the kids—particularly grandson Bill and his intended, Kate.
She is planning on their wedding being a smashing fete and a world-wide television coup. After the nuptials and before Kate gets into her breeder role, they are being sent on a tour of the Commonwealth. This is to take the pulse of the colonials and to try to block some of the unrest caused by Charlie and Camilla’s first rights to the throne when Elizabeth passes into history.
After all the gushing over the dear young couple by the Americans, Canadians will hardly be rude to them. Besides, they are staying well away from any parts of Canada where they might be dissed or, heaven forbid, ignored. They will do the required walkabouts and baby kissing. The news media in Canada will be sure to be quite ga-ga over the charm of Princess Kate and her cute husband.
This could cause another 20 to 30 years of the foolishness of the monarchy in Canada. What the monarchy really does is to put off a properly structured constitutional conference. As long as the monarchy is around, it is blocking Canadians from having the type of government that can lead Canada into a clearer and more promising future.
We are being left today in a form of constitutional stasis. We keep exchanging one bad government for another bad government because we lack the checks and balances in how it is structured. What we need is continued tensions between status quo and liberalization. We need the challenges that lead to better government and a better life for all our citizens. We need an elected Senate or some sort of second house with the power needed to be a place of sober second thought. We need a supreme court that is not just appointed by the current Prime Minister. We desperately need a House of Commons we can respect.
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