Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth!

[yesdachi]

80 years young!

Will this be a big celebration or is it more of a wave and smile event?

[InsaneApache]

Don't really care all that much. The only good thing about having the Queen as our head of state, is that she keeps the political elite from nominating a President.

You rascal ex-colonists missed a trick there my friend.

[Duke Malcolm]

Vivat Regina, as my commemorative coin says.

I was woken up this morning with the glorious national dirge echoing throughout my house on BBC Radio 4 this morning, good stuff...

[Idaho]

Ok - sweepstake on how many years she has left. I reckon she's good for another 15 at least before she croaks.

Unless we are really lucky and she gets strung up from the balcony of Buckingham Palace before her time.

[Duke Malcolm]

I think she won't reach 90... Then Charles will become King, but will use George and shall be King George VII...

[Kanamori]

God save our gracious Queen,

Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen:
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the Queen

God . Save. The Queen.

It brings me to tears.

[thrashaholic]

Happy Birthday your majesty.

The best thing we ever did was keep our monarchy, just look at countries that got rid of theirs.....France.....need I say more? :p

[Ianofsmeg16]

Ok - sweepstake on how many years she has left. I reckon she's good for another 15 at least before she croaks.

Unless we are really lucky and she gets strung up from the balcony of Buckingham Palace before her time.

Thats a bit harsh isnt it? what has she ever done to you?

[BigTex]

I'm so glad sometimes we don't have a king/queen/Tyranical Dictator in the USA.

I'm sure Vegas has odds on when she'll die.

[Kanamori]

Taken his money and spent it on expensive linens and expensive linens for all the extended family.

[Duke Malcolm]

Yes, a mighty 7.5p per person out of pocket, however almost £3 per person contribution from Her... profit of, well, almost £3...

[Lemur]

God . Save. The Queen.

It brings me to tears.

Ummm ... kanamori ... ummm ... she isn't our queen. Wisconsin does not, to the best of my knowledge, acknowledge any royalty beyond Dairy Queen and Burger King. That's about it.

I've never understood the fascination some of my countrymen have with royalty that ain't ours.

[Don Corleone]

Don't really care all that much. The only good thing about having the Queen as our head of state, is that she keeps the political elite from nominating a President.

You rascal ex-colonists missed a trick there my friend.

Our president is not the equivalent of the President of France or the ROI.
We're not a parlimentary system, so we don't have a prime minister. Our president is essentially a fusion of a president AND a prime minister.

[Don Corleone]

Ummm ... kanamori ... ummm ... she isn't our queen. Wisconsin does not, to the best of my knowledge, acknowledge any royalty beyond Dairy Queen and Burger King. That's about it.

I've never understood the fascination some of my countrymen have with royalty that ain't ours.

Hey now, America has a lot of royalty...

We have the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
We have the King of All Media, Howard Stern.
We have the King, Elvis Presly (and don't you DARE tell me that I didn't see him at a Carolina Panthers game last Fall).
We have, as you mention, the Burger King (freaky ass lookin dude, he scares my wife) and the Dairy Queen (though, nobody has EVER laid eyes onher )
We have the Lion King (2 actually, Mufasa and Simba).

But nope, we have no regent. QE2 holds no claim to our lives and livelihood.

[Viking]

Our president is essentially a fusion of a president AND a prime minister.

Now that sounds like something.

[Kanamori]

I'm just having some sarcastic fun with the pomp, because I know that my feelings are mirrored by some on that side of the pond too..

[solypsist]

[Duke Malcolm]

Our president is not the equivalent of the President of France or the ROI.
We're not a parlimentary system, so we don't have a prime minister. Our president is essentially a fusion of a president AND a prime minister.

So France is French, the Irish have a President who has less powers than Her Brittanic Majesty, and you have a someone who, if his party held a majority in both houses he would wield absolute power over federal affairs?

[BigTex]

So France is French, the Irish have a President who has less powers than Her Brittanic Majesty, and you have a someone who, if his party held a majority in both houses he would wield absolute power over federal affairs?

No, there's over 400 members of congress. If the president were to do anything he public viamently disagreed with, there would be enough congressmen voting against the idea. There is also the US supreme court, the defenders of the constitution.

[Don Corleone]

Yes and no. First and foremost, the president and the congress still can't do anything that the Supreme Court says is unconstitutional. At the end of the day, our Surpeme Court wields more power (theoretically) then the president and the congress combined. However, they have no power to enforce their decisions, they can only come out and say what the president & congress are up to is unconstitutional. This is why we Americans prattle on about the Supreme Court so much (which, I suppose if you don't have one, seems like much ado about nothing... it's something, believe me...)

Second, it's rare that even when they are in the same party that the president and Congress will see eye to eye on a lot. What's more, there's a lot of cheques built into the Senate rules so that unless one party has a ridiculous majority (like > 2/3), the minority party can hold them up and run interference. The House tends to play it foot loose and fancy free... 50.1% is enough to pull anything off.

But yes, theoretically, if the president's party won majorities in both houses, one party would run everything over here (because the military, the money, the borders, etc, would all be in their hands). The supreme court could only stand on the sidelines crying foul. Tachi and other American Leftys would probably even tell you that's what's actually going on right now, but in truth, the president's fight within his own party is worse than anything he has going on with the Democrats right now.

Technically, when it comes to foreign affairs, the president wields absolute power, even if both houses are held by the opposition. Only he can negotiate deals and receive emissaries. The only thing Congress has to do with foreign policy (other than voting the money to pay for it) is the Senate has to ratify a treaty for us to officially join to a treaty (which, I think, is technically why we never formally joined the Kyoto accords. W just quit asking the Senate to sign it, after they'd said no 3 times already).

[Craterus]

God Save the Queen.
'Cos tourists are money!

My views echo those of those of the Sex Pistols!

[Duke Malcolm]

Ah, that makes it clearer. And thus shows the failings of British system whereby the members of the House of Commons habitually vote by the party lines to get into the Cheif Whip's good books and get a hand up into the possiblities of becoming a Minister of the Crown...
Thank you Don...

[Duke Malcolm]

God Save the Queen.
'Cos tourists are money!

My views echo those of those of the Sex Pistols!

indeed, and what tripe it is...

[Beirut]

God save our gracious Queen,

Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen:
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the Queen

Happy Birthday to Her Majesty from a humble servant.

[Ianofsmeg16]

At least one Tree Killing Colonial knows his place :D

Happy Birthday your majesty, I hope you rule over us as long as your life allows...your son, i cannot hope the same thing...

Who else here thinks William will make a much better king than Charles?

[Duke Malcolm]

I don't think he will make a better King, but he would make a more popular King. Charles has proven he cares about the country and has contributed towards it considerably, what with the Prince's Trust, his model village, and many others. He is unpopular with the media, though, who seem to often put what he says in a bad light, such as with his comments on schools not so long ago, which seemed to say that children are made to believe that they can achieve more than they are actually able while the tabloids declared he said something like poor children should not be allowed to achieve as well as middle- and upper- class children...

[Craterus]

indeed, and what tripe it is...

The Sex Pistols are tripe? Or the way things work?

I'm only content with the monarchy because they bring in more money than they spend. However, they could cut back on spending and actually do something. Not a fan of the way of the silver spoon.

[yesdachi]

Yes and no. First and foremost, the president...

Good explanation Don. I doubt there is a Government (the class) teacher in the entire public school system that could have explained it as well in as few a words.

[Duke Malcolm]

The Sex Pistols are tripe? Or the way things work?

That is hardly the way things work.
Their main contribution to the country is Her Majesty's private income, which She gives over to the Treasury, and amounted to last year almost £180 millions -- £3 per person. The Allowance the Royal Family received was 7.5p per person.

Furthermore, the fact the Head of State is above the party politics of elections should be important, she cares about the country, and has no party worries...

[Kanamori]

Perhaps I have to tread more carefully than I thought, I was nearly sure it was unanimous that Brits were only waiting for a foul before the Monarchy was tossed out of the window.

The best reason why Monarchy is a strong government is, that it is an intelligible government. The mass of mankind understand it, and they hardly anywhere in the world understand any other. It is often said that men are ruled by their imaginations; but it would be truer to say they are governed by the weakness of their imaginations. The nature of a constitution, the action of an assembly, the play of parties, the unseen formation of a guiding opinion, are complex facts, difficult to know, and easy to mistake. But the action of a single will, the fiat of a single mind, are easy ideas; anybody can make them out, and no one can ever forget them. When you put before the mass of mankind the question, ‘Will you be governed by a king, or will you be governed by a constitution?’ the inquiry comes out thus—‘Will you be governed in a way you understand, or will you be governed in a way you do not understand?’ The issue was put to the French people; they were asked, ‘Will you be governed by Louis Napoleon, or will you be governed by an assembly?’ The French people said, ‘We will be governed by the one man we can imagine, and not by the many people we cannot imagine. ... To state the matter shortly, Royalty is a government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting actions. Accordingly, so long as the human heart is strong and the human reason weak, Royalty will be strong because it appeals to diffused feeling, and Republics weak because they appeal to understanding.’

The only advantage I can see is when they act diplomatically; the word of a monarch carries much more sway than the word of a President who is elected for a four year term.

Their main contribution to the country is Her Majesty's private income, which She gives over to the Treasury, and amounted to last year almost £180 millions -- £3 per person.

I might also add that they own most of London, and lease it to people, rather than selling the property. I doubt that will change anytime soon, and I doubt that people will be able to live on their own land for some time.