There’s Something About Monarchy
16th December 2008
The other feature monarchies offer is that, frankly, they’re more mythic. I don’t mean they’re cooler; I like living in a democracy, and think it has many awesome advantages. But let’s face it, we don’t have so many timeless legends about how Arthur convinced a plurality of nobles to vote him president, or how Winston Churchill will return from death when England needs him most. It’s the flip side of the individual power mentioned before: all across the world, cultures have myths that invest that single figure with numinous force, whether it’s the sword in the stone or the promised return or the land suffering because the king is wounded. And fantasy is often about the numinous.
You’ll find in fiction better discussion of serious topics than you will ever get from the Chattering Classes.