|
|
|
|
 |
||
 |
 |
Wednesday, December 20, 2000
Should Czechs return to the royal road? By Benjamin Kuras The choice of suitors ranges from Vaclav "No-Ethics-Please" Klaus to Father Tomas "Nothing-But-Ethics" Halik, with Madeleine "Don't-You-Czechs-Give-Me-Any-Trouble" Albright in between. The invincible professor Klaus is his own obvious best and only possible choice, the salvatorial Father Halik the presidential preference, and the retiring U.S. Secretary of State Albright a presidential joke designed to cheer the Czechs out of their notorious rotten mood. There is no People's Choice since no one will ever ask the people for their opinion. The next president, like every other Czech president before him, will be elected by the elected. And they, as every Czech knows, will elect the one they would consider the best guarantor of their remaining the elected for as long as possible. As to who that is, your guess is as good as mine. Unless, of course, Czech politics take another surprising twist and Czech legislators hearken to the royalists, the nation's fastest-growing political movement whose membership has multiplied 87 fold in the past 10 years to 87 members. They mean well and have recent European history on their side: European monarchies are the most stable democracies, and totalitarian Spain transformed itself into a democracy by becoming a monarchy. This has one snag, though. Many Czech royalists would simply want to elevate the current president to king. The effect on the Constitution would be of epochal proportions: Frail presidential lungs would become frail royal lungs, and the new king, being without heirs, might acquire the power to appoint, rather than recommend for election, a royal, rather than presidential, successor. And there are, indeed, signs that this is precisely what he already may be doing, without waiting first to become king himself. There is someone in the wings, eminently qualified for the job, who already has acquainted himself with the corridors of the Prague Castle and likes them very much. His name is Charles Windsor, and his qualifications include the jobs of Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. He is also a highly skilled organic farmer and campaigner for the preservation of all sorts of good traditional things and worthy causes. The people's government in Britain already has abolished hereditary peers. Its ministers made a clear anti-royalist statement when they attended the Queen Mother's 100th birthday celebrations in office suits. Several of them confessed that they swore their loyalty to the crown only because they wouldn't get their jobs without it. There is every reason to predict that within a few years, Charles Windsor could be out of a job. There have been reports that he has already taken a few Czech language lessons. None of the above reports and rumors were categorically denied by sources close to Balmoral, let alone Windsor. (In fact, they said nothing at all.) You may be wondering exactly what relation Charles Windsor may have to the Czechs, their heritage and their future. So note this: As chairman of the Royal Society for the Preservation of Traditional Ales, Prince Charles almost single-handedly saved the Budvar Budweiser beer from disappearing into the Anheuser-Busch Budweiser beer empire. And by doing so, as every Czech would tell you, he has done more for the Czech nation than all its post-communist politicians together. -- Benjamin Kuras is an Anglo-Czech writer, and the author of Czechs and Balances and As Golems Go.
|
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.