I’m totally in. Pretty sure I’d do a damn fine job of it, too.
My biggest problem would be delegating. I kinda like being in the details of things.
Oh, I’m good at delegating. Would you be interested in a cabinet post or ambassadorship?
I guess I’d do it to keep the con man from absconding with the country’s assets but, sheesh, having all that responsibility sounds like an awful lot of work. My goal in life has always been to reduce my levels of responsibility to/for other people.
Fuck, yeah. It’s good to be king.
See, there’s this volcano…
This would absolutely confirm my theory that I was switched at birth with a child destined to live somewhere that snow never fell.
Sign me up! The best part of this deal is that I train my kids to replace me and then retire in the style to which I would like to become accustomed.
Accept it. Most definitely.
Do they recognize Droit du seigneur? If so, yes.
Royal Harem.
I should point out that while I’d be a good King at best, I have no doubt whatsoever that my daughter, Princess Madeline, would be without doubt the world’s finest head of state upon her ascension to the throne. I am doing this country a HUGE favour by giving them their future Queen.
As long as they’re ok with the “our new king is gay and won’t be siring heirs” bit we’re all set. I suppose in vitro or something like that might work.
God, I hope not.
Well, I’m childfree by choice and have no desire to be pregnant, so unless I could produce a royal heir with the help of the spouse and a willing test tube or surrogate, I don’t think I’d be eligible.
Even if I could do that, though, I don’t think I’d take the job. I don’t want that much responsibility. And moving is such a pain.
I’ll pass. Accepting would require renouncing my family, and that is something I cannot do.
I’d be concerned about assassination attempts.
Yes, I’d take the job anyway.
First, I would appoint many persons with a high level of administrative experience to positions of governance which would assist me with the nitty gritty. I retain the ability to fire them at any time for any reason, and take over their function or hand it off to another.
Second, I would order the establishment of a representative deliberative body “Assembly” made up of a lottery-chosen selection of the populace, based upon a census, to ensure that the body represents the demographics and economic strata of the society as a whole. Participation in the representative body is considered to be an honor and a duty much like jury duty, and it is legal to be excused from service if you wish. This representative body will act much like Congress, except that their votes enact no new legislation. Only I can approve such legislation.
Thirdly, I would order a nation-wide system of electronic voting, with paper back-ups. The voting machines will be online 365 days a year. There is no such thing as “election day”. The machines are free to use but will require a picture to be taken during the voting process to ensure the identity of the voter. No voter ID card required. Legal citizenship required. Whether you are a citizen or not is kept on file.
How the government will run: The appointed administrators will utilize their expertise in an undemocratic way: It will be a meritocracy. The best and brightest will govern, since only I appoint them, and if they do a bad job, they lose it.
I will then propose for the deliberative “Assembly” items to be considered. In terms of things like settling tax rates, what sorts of government programs should be funded, what kind of welfare and medical coverage is provided by the state, and so forth. In this manner, the Assembly of representatives can offer a full-time professional democratic process, representing the needs of the population, without favoring any interest group above the others.
Their votes will be public record, as well as their reasons for voting. Any approved change voted by the Assembly is immediately sent to my desk where I will make it law or strike it down on the advice of my advisers, giving explanation as to why the new law is rejected.
I will poll the population daily regarding their feelings towards various issues, whichever items are on the legislative agenda of the Assembly, to ensure the representative body is representing the needs of the people as accurately as possible. I may also settle contentious issues via direct democracy, citing the polls as a reason to reject specific pieces of legislation.
Ultimately, as absolute monarch, I can veto anything. The advice of my advisers, the governance of my administrators, the legislation proposed by my Assembly, and even the will of the people. However, I will not do so without citing good reason. Such instances should be very rare.
There will not be elections for the role of Monarch, however, I can be removed as head of state by a 3/4ths voting majority in the Assembly, where I will step down voluntarily (since it’s my rule in the first place) assuring the possibility of a bloodless coup.
In return for this privilege, I expect and require lifetime “secret service” protections for myself and my immediate family, whether I am in power or not. I also expect free education to be provided to my heirs, the finest in all the country, as they are heirs and thus need to be highly educated in order to be expected to rule.
All my healthcare costs must be completely covered.
I will also take three-day weekends whenever I damn well please. And I’ll shut down any newspaper that prints any article that accuses me of being an uncaring, lazy, or out of touch leader, for taking such a weekend off. I’ll be working 60 hours a week, so they need to shut the hell up. That’s my only limit to the free press.
Call me fat. Call me ugly. Call me stupid. But don’t talk about my time off like I haven’t earned it, a-hole.
You’ll note the complete absence of career politicians in my government, and also, political campaigning to elect politicians. The only campaigns there will be, will discuss issues alone.
This is the main problem with American-style government. Remove all of the politicians, and government will begin to function properly.
I’d really rather not. I don’t think I’d be very good at the job - I’m only 21 and have little real life experience, none of it relevant to the task of ruling a country. Politics and the law bore me to tears. I don’t have the kind of people skills a leader should have. Then there’s more personal objections. I don’t have children yet, and while I’ve always wanted to be a parent someday, the idea that I have to, and moreover that they have to be biologically mine, makes me bristle. And I don’t know if they’d be cool with me having a Princess consort instead of a Prince.
But a decidedly mediocre ruler can’t be worse than an actual criminal, so I might have to take it just to prevent him from doing so. Perhaps I’d become Queen long enough to make a law about “convicted criminals can’t inherit the throne” then abdicate in favour of whoever’s next in line after that guy.
Hells yeah, son. When destiny throws out a pitch, a man steps up and takes a swing at it.
In any case, though, I would certainly lean on my advisers, and be ever-ready to make them take the fall in case one of my plans went awry. The business of leadership, of course, is the competence of others; I would let my Cabinet rule the country, and focus on ruling the cabinet by means of sheer, unreasoning dread of my personal displeasure.
Barring swords-on-a-string, having to march around naked, and a standing rule that my successor is obliged to strangle me, yeah, I’d take it.
I’m in a conundrum.
My mother has never wanted to be anything herself. She’s always wanted to be “Mrs. Important Man” or, now that her husband is deceased, “Important Man’s Mother”. Since my brothers don’t appear to be in their way to Importance, she does her best to boast of being “Travelling Woman’s Mother”.
The pleasure of suddenly becoming Queen Mum might kill her… and imagine the square miles of trees that would be murdered to report the death, and then on unauthorized biographies…
save the trees?
Naah, not literally - unless it’s a suicide. Got no problem with autoregicide.
How should I put this? As jy dom is, moet jy kak!(lit. If you’re stupid, you must shit yourself - fig. some morons need to learn the hard way) - the people in your OP are not ignorant or kept behind a wall, I gathered - they willingly, repeatedly, chose monarchy - well, that includes bad kings. Maybe next time they’ll choose something sensible, like direct democracy.