Royals

I read up on the news every once in a while mainly through the CBC News or the Waterloo Region Record apps on my phone in the past few months. 

A big story right now globally is that British prince Harry (grandson of Queen Elizabeth, sixth in line for the throne) and his wife Meghan Markle have decided to disassociate with the royal family, have moved to California, and through a sensationalized TV-special interview with Oprah Winfrey revealed the many struggles and grievances they had with the Royal Family and the British media including accusations of racism, personal attacks, and denial of support for their mental health.

There is lots of commentary in the media online or otherwise suggesting that the British monarchy needs to be put to an end. I wholeheartedly agree with this. Ever since I learned about it it just has never made any sense to me why they continue to have a queen and royal family for symbolic reasons while their country is a democracy led by a prime minister. 

And ever since I learned more about how the Canadian government and state worked in Grade 10 Civics I have wondered why we bother keeping ties to this monarchy, spending money on having a governor general (with the most recent one being a very bad role model), and the Queen's head on the back of our coins.  But I understand a lot of people like the tradition, the example of fanciness and luxury, they still see value in having the Queen and her family as role models and morale boosters for the nation and the entire "commonwealth" that Canada is part of.

I'm not completely against the idea of a monarchy as a form of governance. I think is has benefits that a democracy doesn't have such as security for leadership so they can carry-out long term plans and don't have to worry about putting time and energy into re-election. 

A good-principled monarch can also weigh the interests of all people they are ruling when making decisions which isn't usually the case in democracies because the leaders are part of parties with certain ideologies, platforms, and agendas.

Through taking an Anabaptist Political Theology course in the fall, I learned that my Russian Mennonite ancestors benefitted from living in the Russian Empire in the 1700s. 

As I understand it, empress Catherine the Great allowed different groups of people to have different laws and responsibilities depending on their belief systems on the principle of what would be most fair and peaceful for everyone living there. 

In the case of the Russian Mennonites, they wanted to be exempt from military service which they were granted because their farming expertise had a positive impact on the society they were living in.

But all this still doesn't change that monarchies tend to live lavish lifestyles which in my opinion is unnecessary and even detrimental to the people they rule because it provides an example of a way of living that is unattainable except by violence or other unethical means. And in the case of the current British monarchy the fact that they don't actually serve a purpose except a symbol of tradition and history makes this even worse to me.

Why do we need to glorify luxury and materialism and neatness and proper manners? 

In my opinion this kind of life is not what we should strive for, we need our leaders to set the example for living a good life that is possible and accessible for all people. It's just wasteful and irresponsible. 

But I would argue that most other government leaders don't live the kind of life that it would be good for their constituiency to try to emulate as well, whether it be any president of the U.S.A or prime minister of Canada, or premier of Ontario. 

We need real, authentic people to be leaders, not people dressing all fancy and putting on performances for the sake of branding themselves, appeasing the people who fund them and vote for them.

We need a different kind of royalty that it's possible for anyone to live out, anyone to obtain and works for the greater good of humanity rather for just themselves and the people invested in them. Either that or no royalty at all.