Might Australians Come To Regret the Anti-Monarchist Streak in Their New Government?

Will Aussies come to regret their decision to replace a nominally conservative government with one committed to the progressive agenda on climate change and social engineering? In much of the Anglosphere, there is not a cigarette-paper’s width of difference between right and left when it comes to spouting political nonsense. Only the right lacks the eagerness born of leftist credulity.On the question of the Crown’s role in their society, however, might Australians regret their electoral decision. Her Majesty’s (incoming) Government is committed to a referendum on a republic. Fortunately, the future prime minister Anthony Albanese has indicated that other issues, such as strides toward “carbon net zero” and aboriginal accommodation, will likely dominate his first term. The ouster of the monarchy will have to wait until after the next general election in three years.Australians last entertained serious republican deliberations in November 1999. Then, the Queen won by default — with the public split on the proposed method of selecting the President. Now, have Australians tired of ties to the Royal Commonwealth and their own legitimate monarchical customs and traditions?Not necessarily. An Ipsos poll in January 2021 showed that only 34 percent supported an Australian republic, with 40 percent opposed (and 26 percent undecided). Curiously, those between 18 and 24 years old were less inclined toward republicanism than other age groups.Making the case for monarchy in the 21st century seems quixotic at best. Theoretically, though, two features of monarchical government remain pertinent.First, parliaments evolved from tensions between Crown and people on the question of “supply,” the power to tax. Absolute monarchs were compelled to trim their sails to accommodate the public will. However, with the rise of democracy, people feel little compunction to tax themselves — and more likely, their neighbors — for their own political aggrandizement.Libertarian scholar Hans-Hermann Hoppe challenges this progressive “whig” view of history. “From the viewpoint of those who prefer less exploitation over more and who value farsightedness and individual responsibility above shortsightedness and irresponsibility,” Professor Hoppe writes, “the historic transition from monarchy to democracy represents not progress but civilizational decline.”Second, monarchy historically implies a world “beyond” the state. With a strong sacerdotal element, this took the form of a “spiritual” world beyond the temporal world. Elizabeth II is still head of the Church of England, for instance, with the title “Defender of the Faith.”While separation of Church and State is now de rigueur in the Commonwealth, the Royal Family carries on apolitical service through patronage of charitable organizations. In a republican Australia, it can be fairly assumed that the head of state would become a wholly political institution.Your correspondent understands that monarchy does not enjoy a spotless record as a beacon for limited government. Australia’s recent history of disregard for civil liberties in its Covid response and fiscal recklessness, demonstrate that the tide toward the all-powerful state might be inexorable. Witness similar accounts of “over-government” in the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand.Or consider the United States — and the “Spirit of ’76” — where revolution was waged in defense of traditional English liberties. Thus a United States Constitution and federal republic of enumerated powers and states’ rights.Even in America, though, a written constitution has failed to resist the tide toward statism and centralization. In Garet Garrett’s immortal phrase, there has been a “revolution within the form.”Yet the constitutional form remains. Can it be restored to its Framers’ vision of maximal liberty and minimal government? Such a vision kindles the hope of American conservatives as the midterms approach in November and another presidential contest in two years.Likewise, while Australia remains a constitutional monarchy, the legitimate benefits of its “form” can still inspire. Yet this ideal of a “patriot king” — to use Bolingbroke’s phrase for a monarch who reigns with an eye for the common good, eschewing partisanship — which Elizabeth II exemplified, is threatened once Charles is crowned.“The Prince of Wales will resist calls to abandon his pet projects when he becomes King,” the Daily Mail reports. Charles, it is rumored, plans to be “a convenor King rather than a campaigner King.” Above all, the Prince “appears he has agreed not to be outspoken or to court controversy.”That the Prince’s aspirational role is considered newsworthy speaks to its controversial nature. Worse, it is a sign of the Windsors to come, with Prince William and his dedication to climate change and “wokery” at the forefront.As for Australia, so for the United Kingdom, Canada, and the rest of the Royal Commonwealth. For those who favor limited government and the traditions that underpin society and our local communities, as Professor Hoppe argues, monarchy is an idea whose time has come. With the outsized voice toward ever greater government, the fight for the Crown must be fought.On this year’s Victoria Day, when Canadians celebrate the Queen of Confederation, monarchists within the Commonwealth can take heart from that other Elizabethan era, with a rallying cry from the 16th-century divine, Richard Hooker: “Posterity may know we have not loosely through silence permitted things to pass away as in a dream.” BrexitDiarist@gmail.com

Might Australians Come To Regret the Anti-Monarchist Streak in Their New Government?

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