The best-governed country, for the 64th consecutive year (awards can be made retroactively), is Vatican City. It has almost no corruption or violence, minimal taxes, rare elections by the most sophisticated voters in the world, immaculate civil liberties and social services, magnificent cultural facilities and green areas and does not have public-service strikes or publicly unruly parliamentary activities. Immigration is cosmopolitan and by invitation only.The lesson here is not that absolute monarchies are ipso facto the best-governed countries (they can also be the worst), the lesson here is those who govern least govern best. Of course, no government would be necessary if people were perfectly virtuous, but because human beings are fallible the most we can hope for is minimalist government anchored by a strong civil society. Only a virtuous society with a powerful moral underpinning can offer minimalist government, effective public services and maximum individual liberty. On the other hand, a society that continuously undermines its moral and ethical roots, will necessarily lead to bigger and bigger government, which is the path we are on and can't seem to get off.
Defending he British Crown Commonwealth and the English-Speaking Realms
The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice - G.K. Chesterton
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Enlightened Absolute Monarchy
The Best-Governed Country in the World
It is an indisputable fact that constitutional monarchies such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands are the best-governed countries in the world, but even they can be made to look woefully inadequate and unenlightened. Lord Black:
In what way is the Vatican City an absolute monarchy? The Pope is elected by the College of Cardinals.
ReplyDeleteThe Pope does not govern the Vatican anyway. The Vatican civil service or Curia is to a large extent a law unto itself.
More to the point, de facto the Vatican is governed by Italian Law. A nun could have an abortion in St Peter's Square and the Swiss Guard wouldn't be able to lift a finger.
In reality of course the Vatican is the crime capital of Italy. Most of that crime consists of muggings and pickpocketings. And of course let's not mention the crime we don't know about.
Yes he was elected by a tiny scholarly and pius elite, but His Holiness is both head of state and head of government of Vatican City, which makes the Roman Catholic Monarchy more powerful and more absolute than most.
ReplyDelete"It is an indisputable fact that constitutional monarchies such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands are the best-governed countries in the world"
ReplyDeleteUh, no, actually, its quite disputable.Particularly, if you define "well governed) as 1) power to the people, 2) minimal constitutional crises, 3) sound economic foundations WELL INTO THE FUTURE...
You go to to list:
Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands
Um, what? Countries you listed would be easily screwed over once climate change policies hit in (i.e. their economic structure is tentative, mostly natural resources being exported), have escalating inequality and gross moral relativism- 1) anything from gay marriage to abortion is allowed, 2) bang in the streets legally, 3)where most (roughly 60%) national income belongs to those in the top 20%, 4) low levels of GDP per capita (compared to the countries I cited below). Actually when I read:
The best-governed country, for the 64th consecutive year (awards can be made retroactively), is Vatican City. It has almost no corruption or violence, minimal taxes, rare elections by the most sophisticated voters in the world, immaculate civil liberties and social services, magnificent cultural facilities and green areas and does not have public-service strikes or publicly unruly parliamentary activities. Immigration is cosmopolitan and by invitation only.
...I thought they were talking about Switzerland.
I thought Switzerland (which exports mostly luxury goods with generally have a flat demand curve), San Marino, Finland, Ireland, Austria, Macua, Iceland (although its screwed atm, everyone who become an investment banker, can now go back to fishing)...
Notice, however, the constitutional monarchies you listed EXPORT actual man-made products, not natural resources, as the Saudi's do, or Norway which exports -oil-, or Sweden which is a quasi-socialist empire, or Australia). The UK...well take real estate out of the equation, and whoa... you get a depression.
I suppose once we see all this "global warming" green resources hit in, we'll see these country's slowly fall of the list (Sweden exports alot of forestery goods, curiously). Australia, too, only, really, exports wine and minerals- not much after the mining boom is over.
I also note hitherto, however, Australia (state rights and s128), New Zealand (CIR) and Canada (States and recalls) were founded and influenced by the Swiss Constitution. Unfortunately, these tools were not exploited far enough to yield 1) left wing relativism, nor 2) an economy that could easily collapse once natural resources were exploited.
So, not alot of power to the people, always the odd constitutional crisis, and no LONG TERM economic plan or stability (and this is not to mention the aging population in both).
So much for your "undisputable" premise.
On an absolute basis, we can say that none of us are governed well, but everything's relative. By almost any measure, and despite being vastly outnumbered, constitutional monarchies hold up well against constitutional republics. You are right to throw in the Swiss, but what other country has adopted their model.
ReplyDeleteNew Zealand (CIR), Canada (recalls), Australia (s128), some American states (CIR) and one or two latin American countries. And apparently, David Cameron is calling for CIR. So, alot of "CMs"- to one degree or another.
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, Switzerland took its rotating Presidency, from San Marino- the worlds oldest, most stable country (and yes, a Republic- been around since 324 AD, if I recall correctly).
S writes, mentioning Canada, and "gross moral relativism". I am happy with our gay marriage, legal abortion, marijuana laws, et cetera. We need only note the foul marks on this wonderful planet where a moral certitude is brutally enforced. My morals are likely to be different from yours in some respects, same in others. I rather like that we might coexist in Canada, eh?
ReplyDelete