I think one reason the American right is so insane is that the only actual historical conservative tradition in this country is slavery and Jim Crow, but this can't be admitted
Today in there’s nothing new under the sun: In 1903 a white hotel worker became a right wing celebrity for being fired after refusing to make booker t washington’s bed because he was black and a bunch of people around the country raised thousands of dollars on her behalf
in most of Europe by contrast you've got monarchy and official state religion, which while not great in themselves can be filled up with a lot of different policies
Yes. We have a king who gives speeches about the importance of social solidarity, tolerance and democracy. Weird from a hereditary position surrounded by gold and bling? Yes, but … for some a message from him works. www.brusselstimes.com/342780/king-...
from my seat a king is kind of silly, but if it gives a country a connection to Cherished Ancient Traditions, seems fine or even useful. not sure about the UK though lol
Being both Belgian and British and having lived in both countries the Belgian monarchy has less of a “cherished ancient traditions” sense partly because all the dukes and House of Lords stuff isn’t present. And because we’re a young country, just since 1830 and we recruited a king then.
It’s luck of the draw of course. Philippe seems very sensitive and thoughtful and his successor (his daughter Elizabeth, currently studying at Harvard) the same - but there’s no reason you might not get some total sociopath in the future. But that’s why the king swears an oath to the constitution…
But having an active monarchy still means there's no honest appraisal of how bad the bad Kings were. Visiting the royal palace you'd think the most salient thing about Leopold II was his love of trains. And Leopold III was a good dad, apparently.
That is true. The bad ones were indeed very bad. (Brief advert for Rexit! which I saw at KVS last year and is back this season with Valentijn Dhaenens as Léopold III and Bruno Vanden Broecke as Paul-Henri Spaak. NL with FR and EN surtitles, recommended).
