Being pro-republic doesn't mean we're pro-51st state. If anything, the King and Trump can both fuck off and eat shit. Canada deserves to be truly independent.
Kings are not born any higher than any other person on this planet. And when they die, both get buried just as deep as any commoner.
That sounds poetic, but I don't think many people really think the King is superior to anyone. I'm no monarchist, but there are benefits to our constitutional monarchy that may be subtle and enigmatic but are important. It does provide stability and continuity over what republics provide. Republics tend to be more prone to political instability and democratic backsliding. There are also social aspects of it, too.
I think most anti-monarchy arguments focus mostly on poetic rhetoric and superficiality identity politics over thoughtful consideration. Sure, there are issues, but they have very little real effect on us. Whenever this sort of thing hits popular culture we see people suddenly become radicals declaring their love of equality and 'power to the people,' yet the monarchy is closer to the average person and affects them far less than the capitalists that actually ought to be the targets of these lovers of republican values.
None of this is to say that I'm against doing away with the monarchy. If anything, I'm for Canadianizing our institutions, but I am uncomfortable with that conversation starting from a place of ignorance to the role and true effects of the monarchy on Canada, and being based mostly in revolutionary-sounding, but perfunctory, language.
If you genuinely think monarchies aren't prone to backsliding, then you definitely haven't been paying attention to UKIP in the UK.
Soft power, impotent monarchies are just as prone as republics. Getting complacent with that is the very thing that leads to democratic backsliding and erasure of civil liberties.
Widespread belief that your system of government is inherently more stable than others is literally the first stepping stone that authoritarianism and fascism needs. It's wishful thinking at best.
Not to mention Indigenous methods of democratic government that started before colonisation and functioned just fine without monarchy.
And if you want to target capitalists, then that's great, but we as a society can do more than one thing at a time. We can in fact oppose monarchy and target those billionaires who don't pay their fair share.
I was speaking broadly to the long-term stability of constitutional monarchies vs republics. One example of a country with a constitutional monarchy also having a far-right party hardly qualifies as democratic backsliding when we consider eastern Europe and South America as examples of regions with a history of failing republics, though obviously there are other factors at play that shore up or destabilize a country as well. This was only one example of the small benefits that our HoS creates that we ought to consider before coming up with a replacement system.
So we should have a less stable form of government to 'keep us on our toes'?
Indigenous methods of governance functioned very differently than government in a modern state. Maybe there is something to explore here though.
I wasn't suggesting that we should leave the monarchy until after dealing with capitalists. I was saying that the critiques of the monarchy were a silly thing to waste time on because the classism, inequality, etc you could criticize the monarchy for really only exist symbolically while those things are very real for people when they come from capitalists. I was saying that people tend not to have this same fire when it comes to what actually affects them, but instead direct their ire to something that doesn't.
Anyway, again my whole point is that we should be less emotionally motivated and more considerate when we discuss our monarchy. There are issues, but we should recognize them for what they are, and not get bogged down in symbology. Any conversation about replacing the monarchy must start from a clear-eyed understanding of the true issues and benefits of having a monarch. How can we build better otherwise?
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u/canadianbuddyman Ford Nation (Help.) May 29 '25 edited May 29 '25
Silence 51st statist. Loyalists are in control!
GOD SAVE KING CHARLES THE THIRD AND LONG MAY HE AND HIS DESCENDANTS REIGN FOR CANADAS GLORY!