re: #130 Chrysicat

Honestly, how is their pomp and pageantry any different than the modern Presidency’s?

Except that since they’re only heads of state and not of government, they might be able to take a little of the heat off their head of government…

If you could reduce the President to ‘just the first citizen’ again, it might make sense to condemn other countries’ royalty. But as long as both sitting and former Presidents need to be treated like royalty because if they don’t someone will take advantage of the lapse-of-security to eliminate them… :-(

Two things bug me about it. One, the presidency is earned and only for a short, clearly defined term. The royals, OTOH, didn’t work their way up to royals, they just won the genetic lottery.

Second, royal families perpetuate a class system that should be abolished everywhere. And they maintain their status for life, regardless of what they do. It’s all based on ancient notions of “divine right of kings”, which is inherently discriminatory towards the 99% of the population without noble blood.