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Rain and Monarchies
Jul. 19th, 2012 10:22 amWe got a ton of rain in Chicago last night, coming (at my house) in three giant downpours. We needed it, although it would be nice to have gotten it in spurts rather than a month's worth at a shot.
In other news,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jimhines is up on SFSignal talking about why monarchies in fantasy. There's a lot of good thoughts there, but here's a thought I didn't see: In America, we have an elected monarchy.
Take a look at the Declaration of Independence. It's essentially an indictment of George III. Now take a look at the powers given to the President in the Constitution. Basically, Madison took everything George III did wrong, banned it, took the authority he thought George III should have and gave it to George Washington. Rather than call that office "king" (although President Washington preferred to be called "Your Excellency") Madison called it a President.
The problem with an elected king is the king has to be a politician, and make all the political deals that implies. A king who rules by divine right doesn't, and can look cleaner, for lack of a better word. Now, in reality nobody rules alone, and if the king doesn't keep some powerful faction happy he becomes an ex-king, but these deals can be implicit and behind-the-scenes. Political deals are more explicit and up-front. At any rate, Americans, having an elected king, are more willing to buy into a "real" king in fantasy.
In other news,
jimhines is up on SFSignal talking about why monarchies in fantasy. There's a lot of good thoughts there, but here's a thought I didn't see: In America, we have an elected monarchy.Take a look at the Declaration of Independence. It's essentially an indictment of George III. Now take a look at the powers given to the President in the Constitution. Basically, Madison took everything George III did wrong, banned it, took the authority he thought George III should have and gave it to George Washington. Rather than call that office "king" (although President Washington preferred to be called "Your Excellency") Madison called it a President.
The problem with an elected king is the king has to be a politician, and make all the political deals that implies. A king who rules by divine right doesn't, and can look cleaner, for lack of a better word. Now, in reality nobody rules alone, and if the king doesn't keep some powerful faction happy he becomes an ex-king, but these deals can be implicit and behind-the-scenes. Political deals are more explicit and up-front. At any rate, Americans, having an elected king, are more willing to buy into a "real" king in fantasy.