One of the worst characteristics of British culture is the deeply embedded concept that some people are our betters. The abiding characteristic of British society is social class, and the mainstay of the class system, the institution that justifies and institutionalises inequality, privilege, elitism; that maintains and supports the class system and everything that is wrong about Britain, is the monarchy. The monarchy is the living embodiment of a system that tells us that some are better than others, that some are deserving of privilege and power whilst others are only there to support the elite. The British elite indeed genuinely believe that they are an elite, not of ability, not of achievement, but simply of birth and position. They openly speak about the lower orders. I have come to the conclusion that if I was ever to meet Prince Charles, that I would probably like him. He seems a decent sort to me and the kind of man I would be happy to go for a pint with. In my world there are two kinds of people, those I would share a pint with and those I wouldn't. Charles comes into the former. However, that does not blind me to the fact that he represents a system I am deeply opposed to. I would cheerfully welcome Charles as my next door neighbour, but I doubt very much if he would welcome me. That is not his fault, as I suspect that he is a prisoner to his environment, I do not know that, but would be very surprised if he was not. But, in my experience, elite and privileged institutions must tread carefully as they can be subject to sudden reversals of their fortunes.
In my lifetime I have witnessed changes in Scottish society that would have been deemed impossible at times. Three of the most dominant and seemingly impregnable institutions in Scottish culture have collapsed during my lifetime and no-one could have predicted it only a few years earlier. In the early 1950's the Scottish Conservatives, then known as the Conservative and Unionist Party, rode the dominant position of garnering over 50% of all votes cast in Scotland. Anyone at that time who had suggested that within 50 years they would be left with not one MP in Scotland would have been sectioned. With their demise, the Labour Party established a stranglehold on Scottish politics for the next 50 years, and, following the referendum, they have literally collapsed and are predicted to lose all of their constituency seats at the coming Scottish elections. The other dominant force in Scotland was Rangers Football Club, who collapsed even faster than Labour and the Tories. The common thread linking all of these institutions was corruption and hubris. Labour and the Tories in Scotland became totally corrupt in both an ideological and structural sense. They adopted a sense of entitlement and elitism (a poison that afflicted Rangers too) that estranged them from the people and led them both to believe that they embodied the soul and the will of the people, when nothing could have been further from the truth. As Confucius told us, all things seemingly united will eventually become divided. This is the fate of the United Kingdom, the result of corruption and hubris.
When Scotland becomes an independent nation, it will be essential in my humble opinion that it is established on republican principles. There will be no place for a Royal Family if Scotland is to attain to its goals of an open, democratic, fair and just society. There is no real openness, no proper democracy, no fairness and justice in a monarchy. All British history shows that if openness and transparency, accountability, democracy, fairness and justice even mildly threaten the monarchical, aristocratic, elitist nature of British society, then they will be crushed. As Adam Smith warns us
"To hurt in any degree the interest of one order of citizens, for no other purpose but to promote that of some other, is evidently contrary to that justice and equality of treatment which the sovereign owes to all the different orders of his subjects."
That is what the British class system practices and perpetrates every minute of every day, it is the essence of what Britain is, the deliberate hurt of one order to promote the interests of another and the foundation of that system is the monarchy. You have been warned
Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat.
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