(July 17, 2013 at 9:42 am)Creed of Heresy Wrote: I think Brian's point is that they do nothing but they cost the British taxpayers tens of millions of dollars to sit around and look pretty. And in that, yeah, I agree; fuck the royal family.
Well, I suppose our venerated dead guys and pieces of paper are cheaper symbols of patriotic sentiment. Leave it to capitalism to cut costs.
In all seriousness, we did kind of luck out in our establishment of democracy. Countries that throw off tyranny often either wind up with a dictator replacing the old regime that winds up subverting the nation's quest for democracy (see Napoleon) or else the new order is so fearful of central authority that they create a functioning anarchy that can't get anything done (see America's first attempt after the revolution, the Articles of Confederation).
George Washington had his faults, not the least of which being a slave owner, but he is the only man in history I can think of who acted to restrain the powers of the office he occupied. It helped to create a balance, a government that could get things done and yet not create a new dictatorship in place of the old.
Recent trends are disturbing, however. We've been flirting with fascism for the last 12 years and our hubris that "it can't happen here" may be our downfall if we're not careful.
Atheist Forums Hall of Shame:
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
