Sixty Joyless De-Britished Uncrowned Commonpoor Years (1949-2009)

Elizabeth II Vice-Regal Saint: Remembering Paul Comtois (1895–1966), Lt.-Governor of Québec
Britannic Inheritance: Britain's proud legacy. What legacy will America leave?
English Debate: Daniel Hannan revels in making mince meat of Gordon Brown
Crazy Canucks: British MP banned from Canada on national security grounds
Happy St. Patrick's: Will Ireland ever return to the Commonwealth?
Voyage Through the Commonwealth: World cruise around the faded bits of pink.
No Queen for the Green: The Green Party of Canada votes to dispense with monarchy.
"Sir Edward Kennedy": The Queen has awarded the senator an honorary Knighthood.
President Obama: Hates Britain, but is keen to meet the Queen?
The Princess Royal: Princess Anne "outstanding" in Australia.
H.M.S. Victory: In 1744, 1000 sailors went down with a cargo of gold.
Queen's Commonwealth: Britain is letting the Commonwealth die.
Justice Kirby: His support for monarchy almost lost him appointment to High Court
Royal Military Academy: Sandhurst abolishes the Apostles' Creed.
Air Marshal Alec Maisner, R.I.P. Half Polish, half German and 100% British.
Cherie Blair: Not a vain, self regarding, shallow thinking viper after all.
Harry Potter: Celebrated rich kid thinks the Royals should not be celebrated
The Royal Jelly: A new king has been coronated, and his subjects are in a merry mood
Victoria Cross: Australian TROOPER MARK DONALDSON awarded the VC
Godless Buses: Royal Navy veteran, Ron Heather, refuses to drive his bus
Labour's Class War: To expunge those with the slightest pretensions to gentility
100 Top English Novels of All Time: The Essential Fictional Library
BIG BEN: Celebrating 150 Years of the Clock Tower

Wednesday 26 November 2008

A Whig's Perspective

Good day to all you fine, discerning gentleman and ladies here at the Monarchist. I am a new scribe here, and I have written this article as a way of introducing myself. You may call me Gladstone. Not only that, but I would like to introduce my beliefs in this article, so that none of you excellent Tories will be surprised by my decidedly Whig perspective.

I am a Progressive, a Leftist, a Liberal, and a Whig. With all that, you'd expect that I'd be firmly against Her Majesty the Queen, correct?

No. No, I am a most loyal Canadian subject of Her Majesty the Queen. In fact, I sing God Save the Queen every day while going about my morning routine. I have been this way since a young age (though some would argue I am still at a young age, but I digress). If I could have Red Ensign bed sheets, I probably would. If I could change the Canadian anthem from the overly neutral O Canada to the more patriotic Maple Leaf Forever, of course I would. I love Her Majesty, and I love my English heritage, and I love my Canadian homeland, and I love this great British Commonwealth of which we all belong.

So how is this so? You will find many Whigs these days to be odious republicans (The political belief, not the American political party, of course). Hopelessly idealistic egalitarians, or staunch democrats who can't stand the mere idea of having a dignified part of government, set above the unwashed masses. The heirs of Woodrow Wilson, the Great Idealist himself. Many of them are just Dennis Skinner-type working class buffoons with no reverence for the Crown that has lasted for nearly a thousand years. Proletariats rising against their, quote-unquote, “oppressors”, Marx would be proud. On a related note, Dennis Skinner is one of my all-time most hated MP's ever. I will tell you why. It's because, despite my leftism, I am a proud and unabashed elitist. As the eloquent scribes here at the Monarchist put it: “Equality be damned!”

Oh, I am no racist, nor sexist, nor homophobic. My elite is not based on things that do not matters, not based on things a person has no control over. The noblesse, to me, are those who strive to do better than their peers. And we will always have those people, who elevate themselves and their families above the unwashed masses. Hereditary titles, like the noble Peerage of the United Kingdom, are continuing honouring of a man's deeds, by acknowledging those descent from him. Her Majesty, our fount of honour, is a living acknowledgement of William the Conqueror's prowess and ambition. That is my elite, not based on any race, gender or sexual preference, but on your quality and that of those who came before you. Is that elitist? Indeed so, and I embrace it.

This is why I support Her Majesty and the House of Windsor. They are the dignity of Britain and it's Commonwealth. In addition to the great services they provide as a national symbol (far superior to any mere flag), a unifying force, as diplomats, in the case of the Princes, soldiers, and the historic British championing of minority rights, they are the source, the fount of honour, of dignity in government. Pomp and splendour, they lend magnificence to matters of government. Can anyone truly compare a Presidential inauguration motorcade to Her Majesty's coronation? I think not. The pros they provide far outweigh the cons, or the possible pros of discarding them. Some other nations tell us to 'grow up' and force Her Majesty to abdicate. How is it grown up to reject a magnificent tradition? Is the mindless rebellion of an angry teenager throwing a fit against his or her parents 'grown up'? Most would say no. Then why is it grown up to discard a tradition that has done nothing but good for Britain and the Commonwealth? I say: God Save our Queen, God preserve the Windsors, and the Maple Leaf Forever!

-Gladstone

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What does that prove? That you're a very little boy who can't get his point across without cussing? Honestly, if you don't like our perspective, go read something else.

Shaftesbury said...

Gladstone:

Hear, Hear! And Welcome aboard. My only fear for you is John Manley - an odious Americaniser of the worst sort.

As to Anon: What a cad.

Anonymous said...

You state that "your" noblesse are "those who strive to do better than their peers". I have no truck with this statement at all, and in fact is a refreshingly honest appraisal from the left who (at least in NZ) seem to favour an equality of "outcome" rather than of opportunity. However, doesn't your stated position rather conflict with the concept of hereditary peerages, which are based not on doing better than your peers, but having a relative who did so!

Mac

Anonymous said...

Gladstone you make some very nice points that i shall probably use some day as they perfectly articulate my views though i also disagree with you on some points. you say you are leftist (something still plauseable seeing you didnt really say why, but then you say you are progressive, im not sure you really are by the sounds of it you believe in human rights for sure but apart from that you are very conservative (not implying though that conservatives do not support human right).

this is just my current view that may change though judging you as a monarchist i am very much looking foward to your future posts

Anonymous said...

Mac: I see the Peerage as a way to continue acknowledging the greatness of a man or woman long after their death. The Dukedom of Wellington is in itself a monument to Arthur Wellesley, if that explains my view.

In any case, we do not live in a Feudal society, hereditary peerages aren't the centre of the political world, they're a system of honours to me, and that's all they need to be for me.

-Gladstone

Matthew Celestine said...

It's great to get your perspective.

Being left of centre does not necessarilly make one an opponent of monarchy.