Abolish the British Monarchy? True Democracy vs Monarchy

[Kofi]

The royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton was the greatest and the most magnificent wedding I have seen in my entire life (both in real life and in movies). I watched the royal wedding and I was so glad I did because it took me to a different world altogether and I sat on my seat for more than 3 good hours without even taking bathroom breaks. I knew something about the British monarchy but I never thought a royal wedding could be that great in real life. If they asked me just after watching the royal wedding to vote for or against abolishment of the British monarchy, there is no doubt I would vote KEEP IT! IT IS BEAUTIFUL. However, just a few hours after watching the Royal wedding, I decided to google what people think about the royal wedding and I was shocked to read so many positive and negative responses. Below is one of the comments I found online while searching and after thinking about it for sometime, it makes perfect sense to me although I am not British.

The monarchy is an archaic institution that should have no place in British Society. We have a democratic state built on ideas of equality and yet preserve an institution that is the very personification of inequality.

The British who colonized my country abolished the ancient Ashanti Empire (the greatest monarchy in the whole of West Africa with their capital town in my country Ghana.) many many years ago and they had a very good reason for doing that. The Ashantis were very rich and powerful while the rest of the tribes surrounding the Ashanti empire were mostly poor with very little or no say at all. The British abolished the Ashanti monarchy so as to give voices to the other tribes too. Of course they did that mostly to strengthen the British influence in West Africa but also to help give voices to the other tribes too.

After reading the above quote, this piece of history just crossed my mind and the abolishment of the British Monarchy started making even much sense to me. Monarchy although it helps keep tradition alive, also preaches inequality because if you are not a member of the royal family then there is no way you can ever become a King or a Queen which means monarchy is just for a selected few creating a dividing line between the "selected few" and the "commoners". Such classification just encourages nothing but inequality.

Also, I learned that people pay taxes to help maintain the British monarchy but the people who pay the taxes have no say when it comes to choosing the kings, the queens, the princes and princesses, etc. which I think is not fair. Ofcourse there are many unfair things going on in this world especially in Africa and I shouldn't be talking about British Monarchy but on the other hand, I thought it wouldn't hurt to share with you especially that piece of history about why the British abolished the Ashanti empire/monarchy and I would love to know why the British still keep their monarchy.

what do you think?

[Rick]

The British government is a form of constitutional monarchy, although the monarchy does represent greatly undemocratic values, in fact they have little or no political power. I personally think that the monarchy should be kept because it is a symbol of unity for the British, when the British watched the Royal weddings they watched as if they were part of the family, it is clear the Queen and the royal family plays a huge role in national unity. When in war, the Kings and Queens speaks for the people and ignites patriotism among the British Also, it preserves the tradition and reminds the British of their glorious past.

However, as time passes many question the necessity of such monarch, as they seem to be hindering Britain in many ways and believe that such tradition should not be kept, but I think the opposite. We are not in troubled times, and many people need a symbol to fight for, to unite them and give them hope.

P.S. I am not British.