I see that Prince Rainier has died. I didn't know he was the longest-reigning monarch in Europe. Heck, I didn't know much of anything about him except that he was Grace Kelly's husband.
The longer I've looked at modern history, the more I think it's been a mistake to throw out monarchies. A monarch gives a nation a sense of continuity, and a feeling that no matter what the government does, the country is still the king's. As an American, I have to work to summon up loyalty to a flag, and loyalty to a president is hard to maintain when every few years one is elected that I have trouble respecting. But a king doesn't have to be politically popular to be a focus for the people's patriotism. Shakespeare's battle cry "God for England, Harry and Saint George!" is a lot more stirring than "Go Reublicans!"
Of course, a monarchy could never work in a country like the United States, which was built mostly by people who couldn't get along with anybody else. Still, the restoration of the monarchy seems to have been a huge success for Spain in the post-Franco decades. I was disappointed that in rebuilding Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban, the King didn't get more of a chance to unify the people. The country might have been stablized sooner, and the need for American intervention might not have been as great.
What do y'all think?
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