Tuesday 2 October 2007

Monarchical republics

In school we were told that in a kingdom you have king (sometimes a queen) who gets the job by birth and in a republic the president and/or the prime minister is chosen by the voters.

At those happy times nothing was ever said about those strange hybrids we can see nowadays, in many countries.

First, you have the species called "President for life". You get the top job and you keep it. Sure, there are elections, but................... A good example is Egypt.

Second, like in a good old kingdom the little one succeeds papa. As far as I know, there are two countries Syria in the Middle East and North Korea, just above South Korea.

Those two, however, play in different leagues. When papa died in Syria, the son was an eye doctor in London and I imagine it was not that easy to adopt. But he made it and it appears he has learned his trade and is doing quite well. In North Korea the succession to the "throne" was further hampered by the fact that the country is a communist one . Till now, the commies always killed their last king - when they could get him - or sent him and his family into exile.
Thus I think North Korea merits amply our admiration, they established the first communist monarchy.

Once you have a royal family in a country you get the aristocracy into the bargain. Or the other way round. The nobles choose the king among them. But there is a big republic - the United States of America - where the top jobs seem to be family business. In this country the family president is not called George I and George II but modestly - it's a republic - N° 41 and N° 43.
And in this family pool is another fish swimming who might be one day.......... For the moment, he is just governing a subtropical southern state of the Union.

All this can be called happy diversity of human behavior. It enriches us and them.

I should have added a photo, as I do most of the time. Any suggestions what to show??

9 comments:

  1. "he is just governing a subtropical southern state of the Union" ...Correction! he is not here anymore, there is another governor there.

    We may have another royal family coming, No 42 and No 44! guess who?

    But I do prefer american way than any other way,
    Too bad there are not that many inspirational leaders who are willing to lead so we do not get 41/43 or 42/44 situations.

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  2. Hallo Tilman,

    Thanks for the suggestion. Family business, very apt and very much to the point.

    Bonjour Frieda,

    Thanks for the correction. So Jebby has lost the job, poor lamb. What is he doing these days?

    Georg

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  3. Having never voted for either bush, and would never vote a family, just because of past experiences......There was a good chance the whole thing is rigged! ; (

    I never thought so, but after gw getting elected twice under abnormal circumstances, well, you know the rest.

    No photo in this case is a good photo!

    Cheers!

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  4. Hi Georg,

    It's very refreshing to be back and to hear from you :-) I feel alive again. It took me a while to return but as they say, better late than never, and this time no more photoblogging! I decided to move to website format and will have a lot of photos to post. I even visited Iran last May, after some 5 years. What a cultural shock! I hadn't realized you began your own photoblog. That's another bad thing about me going offline for a while. I'll be checking your blog regularly from now on, only if you promise to stop by too ;-)

    Cheers

    Ali

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  5. on another note it can also be called dynamics of human behavior ? Some like to lead, others to be led and the rest just want to follow ...Add to it there are people who like adventures and risks and they are at their best when they are at them.

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  6. Georg you forgot India. Here too we have a democratic monarchy of sorts, a real family business going by the name Gandhi. No relation to Mahatma Gandhi though. This is the lineage of Nehru whose great grandson is now preparing for elected coronation in the near future. His mother is currently the uncrowned queen, the most powerful person in India.

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  7. Yes, Vinod, you are quite right. The Gandhi family business spans over 2 generations, quite an achievement.

    To tell you the truth, I wanted to write something funny, something that makes the reader smile.

    But nobody seems to smile. All answers I got comment in a matter of fact way. Could be my sens of humor is only funny to one person: myself.

    Georg

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  8. Georg, people haven't seen the funny side of what you were saying...they were looking at the irony of it. When you do that, you miss the fun! As long as you enjoyed writing what you did, it's fine!

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