I remember being interested (and maybe slightly confused) when I read about the oft-bloody transition from hereditary monarchies to democracies and dictatorships. Specifically it interested me that so many smart, reasonable, good people seemed to be monarchists. Even during anarchic periods of civil war, the factions tended to rally around people with some degree of legitimate claim to the throne, instead of the whole royal lineage being abandoned and factions arising based around competence and charisma. Did these smart people literally believe in some sort of magic, some sort of divine power imbued in a particular bloodline? Really? But there are so many cases where the last two or three representatives of that bloodline have been obviously incompetent and/or evil!
Separately, I always thought it was interesting (and frustrating) how the two-party system in the USA works. As satirized by The Simpsons:
Like, I’m pretty sure there are at least, idk, a thousand eligible persons X in the USA such that >50% of voters would prefer X to be president than both Trump and Biden. (e.g. someone who most Democrats think is slightly better than Biden AND most Republicans think is slightly better than Trump) So why doesn’t one of those thousand people run for president and win? (This is a rhetorical question, I know the answer)
It occurs to me that maybe these things are related. Maybe in a world of monarchies where the dynasty of so-and-so has ruled for generations, supporting someone with zero royal blood is like supporting a third-party candidate in the USA.
In monarchy, people with royal blood are the Schelling points. If you vote for someone without royal blood, other people may prefer someone else without royal blood… there are millions of options, the fighting will never end.
Also, we shouldn’t ignore the part where many other countries are ruled by our king’s close family. What will they do after we overthrow the king and replace him with some plebeian?
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(By the way, Trump is probably a bad example to use in this analogy. I think in 2017 many of his voters considered him an example of someone who doesn’t have the “royal blood”, i.e. the support of either party’s establishment; unlike Hillary literally-a-relative-of-another-president Clinton.)
So why doesn’t one of those thousand people run for president and win? (This is a rhetorical question, I know the answer)
The answer is that there’s a coordination problem.
It occurs to me that maybe these things are related. Maybe in a world of monarchies where the dynasty of so-and-so has ruled for generations, supporting someone with zero royal blood is like supporting a third-party candidate in the USA.
Wait, what is it that gave monarchic dynasties momentum, in your view?
I remember being interested (and maybe slightly confused) when I read about the oft-bloody transition from hereditary monarchies to democracies and dictatorships. Specifically it interested me that so many smart, reasonable, good people seemed to be monarchists. Even during anarchic periods of civil war, the factions tended to rally around people with some degree of legitimate claim to the throne, instead of the whole royal lineage being abandoned and factions arising based around competence and charisma. Did these smart people literally believe in some sort of magic, some sort of divine power imbued in a particular bloodline? Really? But there are so many cases where the last two or three representatives of that bloodline have been obviously incompetent and/or evil!
Separately, I always thought it was interesting (and frustrating) how the two-party system in the USA works. As satirized by The Simpsons:
Like, I’m pretty sure there are at least, idk, a thousand eligible persons X in the USA such that >50% of voters would prefer X to be president than both Trump and Biden. (e.g. someone who most Democrats think is slightly better than Biden AND most Republicans think is slightly better than Trump) So why doesn’t one of those thousand people run for president and win? (This is a rhetorical question, I know the answer)
It occurs to me that maybe these things are related. Maybe in a world of monarchies where the dynasty of so-and-so has ruled for generations, supporting someone with zero royal blood is like supporting a third-party candidate in the USA.
In monarchy, people with royal blood are the Schelling points. If you vote for someone without royal blood, other people may prefer someone else without royal blood… there are millions of options, the fighting will never end.
Also, we shouldn’t ignore the part where many other countries are ruled by our king’s close family. What will they do after we overthrow the king and replace him with some plebeian?
.
(By the way, Trump is probably a bad example to use in this analogy. I think in 2017 many of his voters considered him an example of someone who doesn’t have the “royal blood”, i.e. the support of either party’s establishment; unlike Hillary literally-a-relative-of-another-president Clinton.)
The answer is that there’s a coordination problem.
Wait, what is it that gave monarchic dynasties momentum, in your view?