England’s Prince Harry is marrying American actress Meghan Markle. I reckon now’s a good time to give the royal couple a proper American middle-finger salute. And to thank our lucky stars that our Founding Fathers dumped the English monarchy in favor of a constitutional republic. Strangely, the American media don’t share my antipathy to royal weddings . . .
To say U.S. news orgs have been gushing with pro-royal hyperbole is to take the art of English understatement to a new level. And it’s going to get much, much worse. Or better, I suppose, if you’re in the ratings biz. Or if you like that kind of thing.
Truth be told, the average American loves them some UK royalty. They’re enthralled by the “fairy tale” quality of an English royal wedding. Entranced by the costumes, tradition, pomp and circumstance, they give no more thought to the political ramifications of the British royal family than they do the immigration status of the Kardashians’ domestic help. Less, in fact.
As Valley Girls used to say back in the day, gag me with a spoon. And not a silver one, thank you very much. Not to put too fine a point on it, an American celebrating a royal wedding is like a Jew celebrating a Nazi rally.
I remind those who say that the British monarchy is merely ceremonial that the people living inside the U.K. are subjects of the Queen, not citizens. It is still Her Majesty’s Government. And the government’s upper chamber — the House of Lords — remains an unelected body with 92 hereditary peers; the majority of remaining Lords being life peers appointed by the Queen.
Is it any wonder the U.S. doesn’t have a royal family and does have a Second Amendment? Not to me or any other student of history it isn’t. The Founding Fathers made the right to keep and bear arms protected right number two to forestall tyrannical government, be it democratically elected or hereditary. If not for the 2A — and the rest of the Constitution — we’d be watching Prince Disick marrying Lady Kourtney.
But hey, who studies history? Certainly not the average American. They could no more name the Founding Fathers than find the Isle of Wight on a map (after they were assured it’s not a racist enclave, once they learned what the word “enclave” means).
In the spirit of Anglo-American friendship — as demonstrated by the Brits’ measured reaction to Donald Trump’s anti-Islamic terrorism Tweets — here’s a factoid lesson for the educationally challenged hard-of-thinking: The House of Windsor is German. Saying that, Harry’s mother wasn’t German and his father, well, judge for yourself.
Somehow I don’t think any of this puts anyone off the Royal soap opera family. Oh well. Enjoy the show folks. But please, keep clinging bitterly to your guns and bibles. That is all.
YOU KNOW YOU’RE A GUN NUT WHEN…
Going back to the Hebrews. People want a King. Even when they know it will be detrimental to their liberty and livelihood.
Things haven’t changed much.
Christian’s KING reigns from Heaven. Other than that, all of us are King under the soles of our shoes where we rightly place our feet.
And the Jews had judges ordained by God but wanted a king like the other nations.
That was kinda my point.
C’mon, bro. Can’t you acknowledge there’s a teeny-weeny, sparkly little princess inside each one of us?
I know you’d jump at the chance, too.
Lmao
Specialist38, JESUS wasn’t the King the Jews ARE STILL looking for. Tim, you may be a princess if you’d like, and your dads say it’s ok.
Amen
I hate the concept of royalty.
I’ll also all for term limits.
To hell with term limits!
What we need is end of term trials, like the Spartan Greeks practiced.
At the end of any leader’s term, they were put on trial to answer for every decision they made, if just ONE was found against their sacred laws (Given by Lycurgus), they would
be banished.
Oh, and:
“American celebrating a royal wedding is like a Jew celebrating a Nazi rally.”
I had to wipe soda off my monitor after that. Thanks a lot RF. :^)
Actually, there were a fair amount of (half-)Jewish Nazis. Hitler himself was not among them. People do some really weird things. On another note, according to the original ideas of the “Aryan master race,” Jews and Slavs were part of the master race, but the Nazis later changed that bit. I’m pretty sure the Brits wouldn’t put Americans in death camps, but you never know.
I’m pretty sure Brits can TRY to put Americans in death camps.
Ditto. Big thanks for this. This insane idolization of dictator offspring living the high life off the billions separated from the people of Great Britain and its colonies makes me sick. Slaves just can’t shake being slaves.
I dont understand the long standing interest in the Royal family and our press.
There are far more important things going on around us. All they are talking about in the new is this prince and an actress. Who gives a crap!!! We fought a war to get rid of the royals. According to the news. We are still under their thumb and it seams even their intimate toilet habits………………………Again I ask.
Who really gives a crap about the Royals?????
It’s called bread and circuses. Give the proles something to focus on, other than what the political elites are doing to them and their country.
Princess Di decreed, to all of the Britons, that it was ok to have good orthodonture. She should be sainted, knighted, stuffed and mounted.
And that’s even before we get around to praising her for tolerating and mating with Charles to BREED SOME OF THAT CRAY CRAY OUT !
“They could no more name the Founding Fathers than find the Isle of White on a map (after they were assured it’s not a racist enclave, once they learned what the word “enclave” means).”
RF, google can’t find the Isle of White either. Keeps giving entries re. the Isle of Wight.
I knew that.
We could vacation there….if it’s not too dear…..
You need wight power and wight privilege. Wight lives matter.
I can joke, because it’s feminism open season right now, and we’re not discussing the Isle of Man (and it’s famous TT [real men like TT’s]).
LOL. Text amended.
; )
just playin
I live at the good leave of God the queen can kiss my ass, this is coming from a former subject that now is a US citizen.
Got my invite for the wedding in the mail today. I RSVP’ed stating I will be packing.
Well, I didn’t know who either of these people were until now.
Me neither. ?????????
Sorry, this will probably turn into a bit of a rant.
I couldn’t care less about the Royal Family. Diana died when I was living in NZ and to say that people were distraught about it would be an understatement. I didn’t get it then and I still don’t.
However, the point about education and knowledge of history is a valid one and it’s frightening. Personally I think that virtually ever yproblem we have as a nation goes back to education and it’s shocking how piss poorly educated people are.
But that’s not the only problem. The other problem is that our educational system produces people with the attention span of a goldfish, no knowledge of how to research anything and, most importantly in my opinion, absolutely no interest in finding out anything. Try to talk to people seriously about taxes, education policy, foreign policy or much of anything else of importance and eyes glaze over, phones come out and the conversation ends. People just don’t know anything and they don’t care to know anything. They don’t even give a shit about how the government determines the taxes that the person in question pays.
Go try having a conversation about the importance of the Strait of Malacca, how that influences US policy, US Naval policy, our policies towards China etc with your average American and you’ll get a Gary Johnson type response (“What’s a Malacca?”) nearly every time followed by a yawn because that person probably doesn’t give a fuck about one of the most important shipping routes in the world or how it affects the US. And… they’ll never care unless something happens over there and they can’t get their new smart phone or some shit.
Or for an example closer to home look at how often TL/DR shows up in this boards and elsewhere on the interwebz.
I just thought the faked car wreck was Princess Di’s way of escaping Dodi Fayed, and that she was secretly living happily in New Zealand?
Everyone knew the SAS had a van in the opposing lanes of the tunnel facing the wrong way, with a jane doe from the morgue. That’s why the wreck was so gruesome for the speed. Jzeeesh, an armored sedan crushed to bits, like that. . . blimey.
/ popcorn crunching
I spent a couple of years in Canada at our Embassy. The Canadians are just as crazy about the Royal Family, who can’t get a hangnail without it being front page news. A lot of Americans don’t realize that Canada is a monarchy and Elizabeth II is their Queen. The Canadians have cut out a lot of the lower orders of nobility (no dukes, earls or barons), but they love them some Royals, especially when the Queen or one of her children or grandchildren come over. The Canadian parliament is also very British in its operation (except its bilingual), and there are Army regiments of Guards in red coats, Light Infantry, Rifles and so forth. Any American who wants to get a Royals fix doesn’t have to go all the way to the UK.
In the U.S., we say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
I will give Harry credit for having served 30 weeks in Afghanistan, until the Aussie media blew his cover, and his support of the Invictus games for injured service personnel is certainly estimable.
And I’d much rather watch a Royal Wedding than an episode of The Kardashians.
Harry might deserve some credit for serving in Afghanistan, but he also deserves to be labeled a total chump in regards to the woman he is engaged to.
A divorced 36 year old! That is laughable
A feminist career woman. Probably a carousel rider too (actress for Pete’s sake). About a 7 on the attractiveness scale.
Is that really the best he could do?
He should have found a woman more like his mother at the time of her marriage.
Young, feminine, beautiful, presumably virgin
Chump!
He’ll probably be divorced within five years
She might have special talents, if you get my drift.
. . . she can slowly drive around in circles with the tires smoking?
Methinks you protest too much. You married Bette Midler, after all…
She gets extra credit for being black.
My what a nasty diatribe RF…it’s just fluff. At least Harry is something of a bad-azz with his love of killing moose-lim’s in Afghanistan. And she’s certifiably attractive.Once you go brown… I hope their kid doesn’t inherit his dad’s hair😆😜😋
Prince Herry and I pounded some of the same sand in Afghanistan. He’s alright by me
The royal family can pound sand.
They are they are trying to be the Kardashians…and proving to be poor substitutes for America’s highest paid trailer trash.
“God rot all royals. Give us the wisdom of America.”
To words: “Boston Tea Party, and The American Revolutionary War!”
If a man were to be any greater than another, it best only be for quiet and humble example.
Prince William, and his wife, appear to be doing that, and we all wish them well on the continuance.
Like the line from “Second Hand Lions”
“Hub: Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love… true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in. “http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327137/?ref_=ttqt_qt_tt
As much as I despise Lenin and his commie rabble, the man certainly knew what to do with royalty. And boy did he ever.
Me thinks Mr Farago needs some coffee from the joint that does not allow guns.
He hasn’t been the same since.
“Wishes of happiness and good fortune to the young couple.”
Harry has been looking for a woman whom he likes and who will marry him for several years; he has been disappointed before. As for Meghan Markle, she has been divorced, which used to be a complete No-No in the UK Royal Family.
America’s love of royal weddings runs deep. How many Disney heroines married princes, or wanted to? The “fairy-tale romance” angle has a strong pull for a large segment of the population. Yes, our political history is opposed to it, and we need better education; but anglophiles will always wish that “The Land of Hope and Glory” never diminishes into “The Land of Nope and Sorry.”
I agree with your statements regarding education. Never forget that 4 out of 5 politicos prefer ignorant, un-educated voters.
The House of Commons is where all the commies are now, although there are some crazy nobles. Weapons banning in Western Europe started in the House of Lords 200 years ago, but it’s the House of Commons that perpetuates it in modern Bongistan.
I blame Disney for the Princess silliness. I am forever having to tell my wife that I don’t care about the British Royal family (the last interesting one was King George III since he was the monarch when we kicked them to the curb).
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Why do we still not have a ‘like’ button here?
Thinking about supreme executive power, has anyone attempted to see if Hillary floats?
Dyspeptic is obviously feeling repressed…
(Where’s a watery Tart when you need one?)
Maybe they did put him away when he went ’round saying he was an emperor, just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at him…
Thinking about supreme executive power, has anyone attempted to see if Hillary floats?
Come! See the violence inherent in the system!
The English are about to get taken over by the liberal new world order and the royals don’t give a damn! They figure if more people are with them they can suck more money out of the country. I was stationed in England for three years and though I found the people likable, the government and everything they have their finger in (which is everything) SUCKS!
First an article with the kartrashians and now this bs? I’m done with ttag. This site is such a joke now.
Well…bye
Rather than get worked up in a lather over some rich family’s drama, I file it under “it’s nothing to me” and forget about it. Lighten up, Francis(es). There are more important things to get this bent out of shape over than the ongoing royal soap opera.
I googled Meghan Markle, having never heard of her before.
Apparently she’s famous for acting in Fringe and Suits, neither of which I’d ever heard of before.
I’ve never been so proud to be this ignorant…
Of all the Brits that have influence I would say the Royal Family are the most conservative, They do keep the politicians from getting too powerful.
It may be an old fashioned way of doing Government, but it does work, as well as other systems in the world.
Free publicity for UK tourism and British products. London Hotels will be busy with American Journalists this spring, with the exception of Matt Lauer.
Oh and as this is a firearms blog, enjoy the firearms on display in the hands of the Police/Military.
Could you guys not find a pic of Harry with a Hi Power tucked in his vest, that was a classic shot.
Not all Brits are Anti Trump or anti guns. Rad the comment section in Newspapers like The Daily Mail in articles about Trump, they would vote for him as PM.
Mike, I’m not sure you understand the Brits at all! The royal family has NO power other than the peoples love. The only time the King/Queen has ANY real power is in time of war. Other than that all they do is suck money off the people.
“Other than that all they do is suck money off the people.”
Technically, it’s actually the other way around. The monarchy does get payments from the government called the “Sovereign Grant,” but it is 15% of the profits made off of the Crown Estate, which is made up of properties owned by the King or Queen.
In other words, the government collects all of the profits from the monarch’s properties, gives 15% to the Queen (the owner) and keeps the rest.
I’ll bitterly cling to my guns. Prefer to replace the bibles with scientific textbooks.
UMMM, don’t give a big lumpy bowl movement. Why is this BS here?
Hewitt. Well, it does look an awful lot like a stray bull jumped the fence (or was invited in), doesn’t it. There are plenty of gingers in Diana’s de Spencer line, but among the Saxon Huns of the British monarchy, I can’t remember seeing any (the royal family moniker was changed from “Von Sachse Coburg und Gotha” to “Windsor” in 1918).
The media has gone out of their way to push the fairy tale narritive since Kennedy. Couldn’t really do it with the Clintons, but the moment the Obamas came along, they latched onto it again.
Lots of fairy tales have wicked witches in them. And ogres.
Oh Robert, you belabour the American public for their failure to grasp the lessons of history, then commit a solecism such as this column? The political power possessed by the British monarchy has been declining steadily for hundreds of years, to the current point where any power that remains is purely ceremonial in nature. Check out the demise of Charles I and the expulsion of James II for reference. The latter led to the 1689 Bill of Rights, which included the right to bear arms.
What you fail to grasp is that the denizons of the former British Empire still have an emotional attachment to their Royalty that transcends any objections to their previous bad behaviour, inherent goofiness or embarrassing tendency towards frequent scandals. The sight of a gold coach bearing a shimmering bride towards Westminster Abbey or Windsor Castle in this instance, cannot be equaled elsewhere in the world for splendour or magnificence. It requires a sense of history, which Brits possess in spades, to see the significance. This whole process enables the continuation of a tradition that goes back well over a thousand years. People bowed down by the humdrum reality of their tawdry lives can look up to see something truly inspiring.
And frankly, not having seen the Suits series and becoming enamoured of the delightful Ms Markle is almost a social crime. This is one of the finest and smartest example of the televisual arts ever produced.
I can only wish Harry and Meghan all the happiness in the world. And be sure that Harry has the firepower to protect his beloved from the naysayers of this world. All these objections project a jealousy that is most unbecoming.
“Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna’ be fooled again!”
I fervently aspire that my forthcoming nuptials shall possess an aura akin, albeit in distant reverence, to regal magnificence. By the by, not too long ago, I perused a most captivating exposition penned by the esteemed Joe Elvin, wherein he delved into the enigma of Latvian women here https://finddate.org/latvian-women/. I hold this discourse in high esteem as a bastion of reliable enlightenment. Pray, do share your ruminations on this matter.