Yesterday, Virgil and I played cribbage (I know – What a surprise!) As usual, we got a wide variety of hands. It seemed like I was counting for him more than usual today – but that’s just a feeling and may be wrong. We were definitely glad to see each other. particularly since I wasn’t able to see him two weeks ago, so we hadn’t seen each other for a month. We had communicated through phone calls. Fortunately, since this is Colorado and not, say, Mississippi, phone calls are cheap. From the traffic, especially going home, you would have thought that Memorial Day weekend was this week, instead of next, which it actually is. But when we got to the Pikes Peak International Raceway exit, a bunch of cars got off, so maybe they were having something ho on and that’s all it was.
Heather Cox Richardson discusses something I’ve been thinking. The Turmeric Tyrant thinks he wants to be king, maybe even an emperor. If he only knew how restricted actual kings and queens are today, he wouldn’t. And if his family knew how restricted royal families are, they wouldn’t want him to either. In almost every country that still has a king or queen, it is a legislative body – a Parliament – which has the real power. The monarch essentially does what he or she is told. And, as for families, they are the only ones who really have to defer to the monarch. I mean things like princesses can’t even choose their own lipstick. Anyone dining with the monarch must stand up and leave the table when the Monarch does, whether on not they have eaten their fill. Not that that is law – but it is court etiquette with the force of law if you are in the court. And they can’t be idle. They have to work (unless they are for some reason disqualified), generally for some charity or cause. They do get some choice – Diana, a former schoolteacher, worked for children’s welfare. Charles, when Prince of Wales, worked for historical preservation (the British Antiques Roadshow admired him.) Harry worked for the climate. Americans who say that the UK or other countries with a king or queen “should get rid of the monarchy” have no idea what they are talking about. Dictators, on the other hand, are “elected.” they may be sham elections compared to what ours are supposed to be like and in many states still are – pressures on voters here are not from the Government – yet. Apparently after our Revolution, when Europe saw the system was working pretty well, European countries started slowly shaping their governments to work more like it. I can’t think of a European country where a king or queen has unlimited power.
The F*ing News – irony may be dead (although I’ll never believe it), but sarcasm is very much alive.
