I am not now, nor have I ever been a monarchist

I am not now, nor have I ever been a monarchist. I have paid little attention to the Queen of Canada. I do remember the Silver Jubilee. It was an event, it happened, but held little significance for me. I think my parents thought it was special. But then my parents generation saw a different monarchy than we do today. The Queen   reigned over different world. No royal scandals, 24 hour access, intrusive and unapologetic press, a Britain that still prefixed itself with Great. So if my parents still had respect for the Monarchy It's something I could understand.  For them the glamour and fantasy remained on trammeled.

While I credit the mystique associated with royalty as key to its enduring popularity with many citizens, I can not credit  it for my disinterest in the the Queen and the Royal Family.There was no loss of respect stemming from over exposure and the resultant familiarity. They were and have never been a part of my life, even when I swore my oath of allegiance to the Queen of Canada. The Queen was a legal technicality that need to be satisfied before I could get on with serving my country.

That is what I think of the Queen. She is the person that sits as Head of State due to the peculiarity of our political system. I attach no further significance to it. Others do. They see Her as a dignified figure that sits above the fray, an impartial observer, and so a fair judge. It is less a measure of the Queen's character than the fact of her impotence, that leads us to see her thus. She exercises no power and so accumulates no enemies. The Queen has nothing tangible at stake nothing to promote or defend. We need only look to her ancestors, those that wielded real power, to see what virtue is possessed by those that rule.

So the Queens virtue and decency, which are real and true, represent not the efficacy of a tame monarchical system than but efforts of a women working to preserve the rights and privileges of her family with the only way left, that is by being an upright and humble servant. Which she has done, save for a few instance, quite admirably.

While I appreciate the Queens efforts, exercised ultimately on the behalf of herself and family, that is not reason enough to maintain a monarchy for Canada. The Monarchical institution  no matter how impotent its present state, has no place in our democracy. A free people should have no Kings or Queens. We can not entertain the notion that any  man or woman is born to rule, or chosen by God to lead a people, such is not for grown up Nations. Such a fantasy is better left to the novelists, a mature polity needs none of it.

Many will resist the establishment of a republican parliament and cry history or tradition. Nothing I say would change their minds, they are wedded to a certain kind of Canada and will see nothing else in her place. It is change, no doubt scary but to my mind for the best because it is always better to chose your own leaders.

I give thanks for the good service give to us by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, but I think it  time for Canada to leave her childhood behind.