The Monarchist 1.0
Defending the British Crown Commonwealth and the English-Speaking Peoples
[+] HONOURING OUR PATRON, SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, VICTOR OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES
[+] HONOURING OUR QUEEN, ELIZABETH THE SECOND, ON THE 80TH YEAR OF HER BIRTH (1926 - 2006)
[+] HONOURING OUR KING, SAINT EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, ON THE 1000TH YEAR OF HIS BIRTH (1005 - 2005)
[+] HONOURING OUR HERO, LORD NELSON, ON THE BICENTENNIAL OF THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR (1805 - 2005)
[+] HONOURING OUR SONS, THE QUEEN'S COMMONWEALTH SOLDIERS KILLED IN THE 'WAR ON TERROR'
Chief Warrant Officer Robert Girouard, 46, Royal Canadian Regiment, Nov 27, 2006 (Afstan)
Staff Sergeant Sharron Elliott, 34, Intelligence Corps, Nov 12, 2006 (Iraq)
Private Jacob B. Kovco, 25, Royal Australian Regiment, April 21, 2006
[+] HONOURING OUR VETS ON THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VICTORIA CROSS (1856 - 2006)
Monday, May 23, 2005
VICTORIA DAY
What an appropriate honour and privilege it is for “The Monarchist” to welcome in Victoria Day, the official birthday of the Queen of Canada and the actual birthday of Queen Victoria (1837-1901), our long ago Empress who was born on May 24, 1819. As a constitutional monarchy, it is fitting that we observe this day and pay our loyal respect – if not reverence – to the sovereign that gave Royal Assent to Canada, the mother monarch who gave birth to our country by consenting to confederation through the British North America Act of 1867. If we still believe – as surely we must – that every nation needs to subscribe to a history, it seems only proper that we continue to reserve one day of every year to commemorate the institution that goes to the very core of our narrative and identity as a people. The story and spirit of Canada is every bit as much tied to the national significance of May the 24th, as it is to the significance of July the 1st and November the 11th, the three occasions which respectively evoke the memory of King, Country and those who died for it…
At least that’s how I would have begun it. But the political melodrama and emotional butchery of the past period has left me too disillusioned to write anything further. As Walsingham confirms for us with "The Tipping Point", not even the grace and presence of Her Majesty The Queen can raise us to the point of affectionate despair. Like the Ottawa Citizen’s David Warren wrote after the gobsmacking events of last week, “I took in the final betrayal of Canada”. And just as he put it, nothing would more eloquently approximate our feelings on the matter than running this space blank. The trepidation of a blank page would at least offer up more sweat and tears in confronting the moral evisceration of our political culture, than the legions of whining “citizens” who would actually find it too taxing to vote a risibly corrupt government out of office. As I have written before, without a culture of dignity and respect there is no pride, there is no shame, there is no aspiration for greatness. There is only the descent of society into a bland smugness where truth is often murdered and people are ridiculed for their beliefs. Even, as it turns out, when those beliefs are as fundamentally basic as the principles of democratic accountability, of parliamentary confidence and integrity in government.
Is it no wonder that we no longer believe in anything then? Take Victoria Day for example. Only a people chronically ignorant and embarrassed of their past would seriously entertain such asinine amendments as “Heritage Day” or “Citizenship Day” as worthy replacements for a national occasion that has been faithfully observed in Upper Canada since 1845. These self-loathing remedies call to mind nothing; they induce stupidity and forgetfulness, they deprive us of history, culture, meaning and relevance and sap the country of its true patriot love. It is apparent that we have either forgotten or no longer care that patriotism is traditionally tied to the monarchy, that in this country we pay deference to the Queen – not the flag. The existence of the “Red Ensign” brigade is proof (“…and when you have a good proof it’s proven.”) that there exists no universal affection for our national flag and the Trudeaupian blandness that underlies it.
But of course there no longer exists any universal affection for the monarchy either. There was a time not too long ago in our history when people were instinctively monarchist, when displays of loyalty and respect to the crown were considered nothing more than time-honoured love of country. This was still true during the days of Diefenbaker for sure, but even as early ago as the 1980s, when tens of thousands lined the streets hours in advance just to catch a passing glimpse of the queen, a spontaneous demonstration of affection that today gets mocked as “royal watching”. To be denigrated in this way by the media, to insinuate that we “royal watchers” have latched onto some kind of quaint hobby horse here, illustrates just how far our impulses have reversed in recent years, to the point of ridiculing and undermining our own institutions. And so this year, like every year that Victoria Day comes along, even with Her Majesty “at home away from home”, the media invariably swallow pedestrians on the street with questions like: “is the monarchy still relevant in this country?” Well no, for a people that are permanently cemented in a state of non-belief, nothing can ever be relevant.
My apologies to our readers for not sounding very uplifting here, but after last week's disgraceful episode -- the most disgraceful I've seen in my 37 years on this planet -- I find myself too disenchanted to offer a more positive tone. I will say this however: The Monarchist was conceived as an act of defiance against the central establishment and we will continue, come what may, the good fight against it.
POSTED BY: The Monarchist AT 2:34 a.m. | LINKS |
What an appropriate honour and privilege it is for “The Monarchist” to welcome in Victoria Day, the official birthday of the Queen of Canada and the actual birthday of Queen Victoria (1837-1901), our long ago Empress who was born on May 24, 1819. As a constitutional monarchy, it is fitting that we observe this day and pay our loyal respect – if not reverence – to the sovereign that gave Royal Assent to Canada, the mother monarch who gave birth to our country by consenting to confederation through the British North America Act of 1867. If we still believe – as surely we must – that every nation needs to subscribe to a history, it seems only proper that we continue to reserve one day of every year to commemorate the institution that goes to the very core of our narrative and identity as a people. The story and spirit of Canada is every bit as much tied to the national significance of May the 24th, as it is to the significance of July the 1st and November the 11th, the three occasions which respectively evoke the memory of King, Country and those who died for it…
At least that’s how I would have begun it. But the political melodrama and emotional butchery of the past period has left me too disillusioned to write anything further. As Walsingham confirms for us with "The Tipping Point", not even the grace and presence of Her Majesty The Queen can raise us to the point of affectionate despair. Like the Ottawa Citizen’s David Warren wrote after the gobsmacking events of last week, “I took in the final betrayal of Canada”. And just as he put it, nothing would more eloquently approximate our feelings on the matter than running this space blank. The trepidation of a blank page would at least offer up more sweat and tears in confronting the moral evisceration of our political culture, than the legions of whining “citizens” who would actually find it too taxing to vote a risibly corrupt government out of office. As I have written before, without a culture of dignity and respect there is no pride, there is no shame, there is no aspiration for greatness. There is only the descent of society into a bland smugness where truth is often murdered and people are ridiculed for their beliefs. Even, as it turns out, when those beliefs are as fundamentally basic as the principles of democratic accountability, of parliamentary confidence and integrity in government.
Is it no wonder that we no longer believe in anything then? Take Victoria Day for example. Only a people chronically ignorant and embarrassed of their past would seriously entertain such asinine amendments as “Heritage Day” or “Citizenship Day” as worthy replacements for a national occasion that has been faithfully observed in Upper Canada since 1845. These self-loathing remedies call to mind nothing; they induce stupidity and forgetfulness, they deprive us of history, culture, meaning and relevance and sap the country of its true patriot love. It is apparent that we have either forgotten or no longer care that patriotism is traditionally tied to the monarchy, that in this country we pay deference to the Queen – not the flag. The existence of the “Red Ensign” brigade is proof (“…and when you have a good proof it’s proven.”) that there exists no universal affection for our national flag and the Trudeaupian blandness that underlies it.
But of course there no longer exists any universal affection for the monarchy either. There was a time not too long ago in our history when people were instinctively monarchist, when displays of loyalty and respect to the crown were considered nothing more than time-honoured love of country. This was still true during the days of Diefenbaker for sure, but even as early ago as the 1980s, when tens of thousands lined the streets hours in advance just to catch a passing glimpse of the queen, a spontaneous demonstration of affection that today gets mocked as “royal watching”. To be denigrated in this way by the media, to insinuate that we “royal watchers” have latched onto some kind of quaint hobby horse here, illustrates just how far our impulses have reversed in recent years, to the point of ridiculing and undermining our own institutions. And so this year, like every year that Victoria Day comes along, even with Her Majesty “at home away from home”, the media invariably swallow pedestrians on the street with questions like: “is the monarchy still relevant in this country?” Well no, for a people that are permanently cemented in a state of non-belief, nothing can ever be relevant.
My apologies to our readers for not sounding very uplifting here, but after last week's disgraceful episode -- the most disgraceful I've seen in my 37 years on this planet -- I find myself too disenchanted to offer a more positive tone. I will say this however: The Monarchist was conceived as an act of defiance against the central establishment and we will continue, come what may, the good fight against it.
POSTED BY: The Monarchist AT 2:34 a.m. | LINKS |
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