Reddy wrote:This raises an issue I've always wondered about and my Jamaican friends always appeared to be just as unsure about when asked. Why hasn't Jamaica ever sought independence? It's certainly large enough to form a viable state and whatever benefits it gets from remaining under the British Crown would surely be mostly preserved if it remained in the Commonwealth.
The previous prime minister tried, but it seems like with a recession to manage and a vocal(?) 'it isn't hurting anything' opposition, she didn't have enough political capital (or time?) to get it done.
Reddy wrote:I think it would be wrong for Britain to abolish such a unique and prestigious institution just to please the illusion that in a republic, everyone has the shot or opportunity to become head of state. This is certainly not true, political system are almost always rigged in a manner which ensures that a certain class of people monopolise power. I mean would it not be better to more concerned with the fact the Cabinet and Parliament are always dominated by Old Etonians and Oxbridge graduates since those are the bodies that actually wield political power?
This misses the point. A republic is not preferable because everyone has a serious shot at being head of state. It's preferable because the patronage, influence-peddling, and careerism necessary to become head of state are not legally limited by heredity. The US system for instance has repeatedly produced non-In-Group heads of state (Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton arguably, but more unambiguously Harry Truman and Abraham Lincoln), not to mention major party presidential candidates as demonstrated currently by Donald Trump. It is not the norm in our system, but because our system is designed aspirationately and is propagandized to US citizens as such, after a while people have genuinely come to believe that literally anyone can be President of the United States if they want it badly enough. No amount of wanting will make anyone in the UK head of state, save maybe Anne, Andrew, or Edward Battenburg.
Importantly, while In-Groupism in the US is pernicious and based on an array of multi-generational corruption and criminality, it is not entrenched in our government system expressly by heredity. The Eton-Oxbridge Complex, on the other hand, was built by and through, and persists in large part on the basis of, the corrupting element of the UK's hereditary nobility.