"But the point of an if-ain't-bust attitude is that...."
Don't know who this is addressed to Mike , but it's a flawed analogy.
As far as I can see, the Royals are a fairly useless, do-nothing institute who provide a degree of entertainment value for some, but on the whole, have no practical function whatever.
They are remote symbols of what Britain once was - not particularly something to be proud of.
If they have a role, what it it, other than a glossy figurehead?
I've been following the Minefields Charity affair with a degree of interest - a well-meaning enterprise set up by a Princess, now turned into a jobs-for-the-the-already-well-off-boys in order to educate their children and make a bit on the side - a humane idea turned into a profitable career for a few.
Hopefully, whether Buck House remains a royal palace or is turned into affordable homes for the homeless, Britain is still going to use its extremely limited democratic right to elect who runs the country.
In the past, the monarchy had a role as a symbol for colononising the world and sending Britain's youth to die in the mud of its battlefields - now it's no more than an elaborate diversion of attention away from predatory nature of the society we live in.
You talk as if a presidency is going to change things - what exactly? If they do nothing, what's to change?
I have little time for politicians, but strangely, I find the most inspiring examples of humanity have come from presidents such as Mandela and Allende - and Ireland's two women presidents, particularly Mary Robinson, a true humanitarian and an example I'd be happy to point out to any aspiring world-changer.
"huge number of utterly useless lazy scrounging people."
And there speaks the patriotic right of Britain - the Hitler-saluters, Nazi-uniform doners and those who use our taxes to build palaces for their ducks are worth doffing our caps to - the rest of us are scrounging scum.
Well said Bozo - now there's an example worth preserving - a real symbol of how things are.
Jim Carroll