tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post614452038764753612..comments2024-03-28T07:16:39.621+00:00Comments on Lallands Peat Worrier: "What is a Republic?"Lallands Peat Worrierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18276270498204697708noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-30835858224392913052013-05-16T18:48:54.179+01:002013-05-16T18:48:54.179+01:00Tychy,
Left to my own whims and devices, most of ...<b>Tychy,</b><br /><br />Left to my own whims and devices, most of the time I'd agree with your analysis. I've always found Robespierre's question provoking, which is part of the reason I thought it'd be interesting to air it here, given the ongoing controversy about an independent Scotland's head of state, both within the SNP, and in the broader pro-indy movement. The last Irish presidential election was interesting on that score. In some sense, the opportunity to pick a candidate also seemed (to this external observer!) an interesting chance to re-evaluate your national values, and question what the uniting features of your nation ought to be. At the time, I felt a squirm of jealousy. No such opportunities for national self-reflection for us, doomed to perpetuity under an immoveable, unalterable, undying Queen Liz.Lallands Peat Worrierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238432265194046726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-86044537197056597892013-05-15T11:34:50.301+01:002013-05-15T11:34:50.301+01:00Ouch! - sorry, "incompatible."Ouch! - sorry, "incompatible."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-18968022577101386532013-05-15T11:32:44.153+01:002013-05-15T11:32:44.153+01:00Surely a popular monarchy and a republican spirit ...Surely a popular monarchy and a republican spirit are fundamentally incompatable - or rather, they are only compatable via a rather dangerous leap of the imagination ie the monarch would be elected by a landslide if s/he ever was ever obliged to stand for election. A "popular" monarchy seems to be democracy without the electorate.<br /><br />If the Queen is popular, it is only because she tries to resemble a completely apolitical and inconspicuous figure. Not a very inspiring state of affairs if the most "popular" politician (and the Queen is inevitably a politician) is the one who doesn't say or do anything.<br /><br />What is a republic? A republic is surely a place where the people - ie the public - make decisions about their own destiny. These decisions should include things like who and what their head of state is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-78837599212729704592013-05-09T13:52:54.327+01:002013-05-09T13:52:54.327+01:00Ha! If the old fellow didn't take much to Jaco...Ha! If the old fellow didn't take much to Jacobinism, just think what Jacobitism would have done to his humour...Lallands Peat Worrierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238432265194046726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-29649007054832702992013-05-09T10:43:42.572+01:002013-05-09T10:43:42.572+01:00I've met a few - entirely affable in their con...I've met a few - entirely affable in their concrete mindset. I hope you passed the port over the water?<br /><br />That apart I sense we are being set up for the Queens 'retirement' immediately prior to the referendum. Britannia ruling the air waves and all that.Crinkly & Ragged Arsed Philosophershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08902364411241935656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-61508774515225126882013-05-08T21:09:20.650+01:002013-05-08T21:09:20.650+01:00Always becoming but never being! I dare say that t...Always becoming but never being! I dare say that the Scottish People's Supreme Soviet would have dowdier costumes.Lallands Peat Worrierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238432265194046726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-43333765444431990352013-05-08T21:08:16.344+01:002013-05-08T21:08:16.344+01:00In fairness to auld Liz, as a constitutional monar...In fairness to auld Liz, as a constitutional monarch, she is obliged to go through the ridiculous ceremony of droning out "her" government's programme. I suppose she might have objected to this particular sentence, but I'm sure it reflects her own views. Without naming names, I recently had the curious experience of having dinner sat beside one of Her Majesty's senior household (you know the sort of character, worldly, ex-military, pleasant and a bit reactionary). Imagine my shock to discover that he regarded Scottish independence as an unlikely and unsupportable adventure...Lallands Peat Worrierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238432265194046726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-21411305429130463362013-05-08T21:05:38.276+01:002013-05-08T21:05:38.276+01:00I await the happy hour, when Salmond is questioned...I await the happy hour, when Salmond is questioned by a back-bench Labour MSP: <i>"To ask the First Minister whether he is a closet Orelanist?"</i> I'd love to hear Dennis Canavan's analysis of that one! "Bourbon splits in YesScotland: friction in the cadet branch..."Lallands Peat Worrierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238432265194046726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-48730243772760918712013-05-08T21:01:20.993+01:002013-05-08T21:01:20.993+01:00Robespierre's attitude to the death penalty is...Robespierre's attitude to the death penalty is perhaps one of the most elusive and confusing features of his personality. While your <i>Scarlet Pimpernel</i> invariably depicts him as a cold-blooded villain who sublimated his sexual excitement into having his enemies decapitated, the reality is, if anything, more curious. Having argued against the death penalty, he has become identified with its Terrifying use. I suppose he may have felt that La Belle France was subject to fundamental threats to its integrity and survival, and so extraordinary capital measures were justified, to defend the Republic from its very real foes. A fascinating character. I still find him compelling, despite himself, and despite the fact that I'm a rather more mirthful, irreverent and worldly character myself and would have been more at home among the <i>Cordeliers</i>. The Incorruptible may not have approved.Lallands Peat Worrierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238432265194046726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-24218101462673828952013-05-08T19:58:36.933+01:002013-05-08T19:58:36.933+01:00Craig:
'But I think he would nonetheless enjo...Craig:<br /><br />'But I think he would nonetheless enjoy the Opening of Parliament along civil, Scots lines, relish discussing the King/Queen of Scots (as opposed to Scotland) and be in favour of things like knighthoods as a measure of recognition, rather than as a way to confer political power.'<br /><br />I remember Salmond on Radio Scotland after we beat France enthusing about how he was going to honour the Scottish team in a 'democratic' Scots fashion - make them 'Guardians of Scotland' perhaps. Of course we got beat by Italy next game and no more has been heard of 'Guardians of Scotland'.<br /><br />LPW the encounter between the boy Robespierre and Louis was an enthralling one, strangely mirrored much later when Louis was taken by coach to execution - as the coach passed Robespierre's residence he led a wee girl away from the window saying that something was happening 'which you should not see'.<br /><br />Am with that old Jacobite Tory Dr Johnson on forms of government!<br /><br /> <br /><br />Edwin Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05317173893948248954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-47761497761734735552013-05-08T19:22:33.902+01:002013-05-08T19:22:33.902+01:00Since the Queen has nailed her colours firmly in t...Since the Queen has nailed her colours firmly in the No camp what purpose will she serve in an independent Scotland?Crinkly & Ragged Arsed Philosophershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08902364411241935656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-778283827021476942013-05-08T18:44:21.584+01:002013-05-08T18:44:21.584+01:00I absolutely adore the Bernadotte example. The sto...I absolutely adore the Bernadotte example. The story goes that he had no hand in his election to the monarchy, just the fortune of having ardent Napoleonic allies in the Swedish Riksdag. Napoleon, in turn, laughed out loud when he heard of his appointment but may have regretted that when the Swedes supplied the Prussian forces that eventually overwhelmed the French at Leipzig.<br /><br />I think you speak to an intriguing paradox at the heart of Scottish Nationalism, one of many paradoxes that speak to the difficulties of big-tent politics. Interestingly, I think Salmond is closer to Robespierre's definition of republican than the ardent republicans in his own party would ever allow. Populist government under a benign monarch sounds exactly like what the Maximum Eck desires.<br /><br />And he has precedent, as I know you know. Limited monarchy defined much of the anti-Union rhetoric in the days before 1707 (which is interesting considering Queen Anne was hardly an absolutist) and I think Eck draws on that spiritually when considering a Scottish approach to monarchy. He certainly rejects the Westminster paradigm which imbues all sovereignty in the hereditary trappings of state, including the House of Lords. But I think he would nonetheless enjoy the Opening of Parliament along civil, Scots lines, relish discussing the King/Queen of Scots (as opposed to Scotland) and be in favour of things like knighthoods as a measure of recognition, rather than as a way to confer political power.<br /><br />In that sense, we might liken Eck's royalism to Orleanists rather than Robespierrans, more befitting the 1830s than the 1790s. Just one historian's suggestion, of course.Craig Gallagherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16651039747592264903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-83495738400339687272013-05-08T18:20:54.465+01:002013-05-08T18:20:54.465+01:00The Republic, as an ideal, is only approachable, n...The Republic, as an ideal, is only approachable, not fully attainable. It is perfectly conceivable that a state with a nominal monarch - i.e. some dribbling old duffer in a stupid dress who makes speeches on public occassions - be more republican in character than a state which deposes its monarchy and renames itself as the People's Republic of Whatever. See Communism, passim.agentmancusohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06508548709799933800noreply@blogger.com