Ideal Monarchy
I have some friends who are interested in establishing a monarchy. They say that sometimes power must be taken out of the hands of the people in order to ensure good government. As much as I like democracy, I am sometimes tempted to agree with them. So, I created this structure as an example of a monarchy that can still be considered a Liberal Federal Republic.
The King, of course, holds all the powers of the government. He is checked by the Senate, elected by the people, who are watching out for the constitution of the republic and the rights of the people. If the King does anything contrary to these, the Senate can stop him by veto (or, since it is a collective action, a vetamus). The King is not a hereditary monarch, I believe that leaves you open to corruption. Therefore, the King is further checked by the Council of Knights who will elect the King. The Knights will also have the power to remove the King if he has been vetoed by the Senate three times. The Senate and the Knights will also have power to raise taxes, just like the King. However, the Senate’s taxes can only be used to fund the army, and the army can receive no other funding from any other source. The same will be true with the Knights who shall use the money they raise to fund the courts, and the courts shall receive no other funding. Both the army and the courts will be controlled by the King, but the King will not control their funding.
One of the more interesting ideas in this structure is the Poetae Equerum, or Poets of the Knights. The Poets are a group of artists appointed by the Knights and commissioned by the constitution to create works of art that extol heroic virtues such as: loyalty, compassion, sacrifice, patriotism, duty, honor, and so on. This is intended to ensure the quality of the electorate. A republic is only as good as the electorate. I wanted to find a way to make sure there was plenty of uplifting art in the culture to encourage the electorate to do what is right. I did not want to censor the artists, so I came up with this idea. I believe that all people long to see these heroic virtues celebrated, and if the art is simply created and put out there for all to see then the people will gravitate to it on their own. So, there is no need to censor the art. The trick here is to make sure that this doesn’t turn into PBS. So, the Poets will not be a group or government agency. They will be independent artists that will be paid to produce the kind of art commanded by the constitution. It may be a cush job, but it is also an important job.
© Copyright 2004, Jason E. Heath
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