[DRAFT] Who Wants To Be A Monarch?

[Great Robertia]

Daarwyrth here with another Issue idea! I was looking around in the existing issues and didn't find any that explicitly dealt with @@NAME@@ becoming an elective monarchy. There is one issue where there is an option that mentions choosing a monarch, but it doesn't truly imply an elective monarchy in the full extent of the concept. Thus, I have decided to draft this idea and put it out here, so that people can have a look at it and tell me what works and what doesn't!

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First Draft

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[Name] Who Wants To Be A Monarch?

[Validity] Must be a monarchy

[Description] After last night's final episode of the immensely popular series A Play of Chairs had suggested that a monarch could be elected on the basis of their merits rather then their birthrights, prominent voices in @@NAME@@ have started calling for the nation's monarchy to become elective as well.

[Option 1] "Oh, what a jolly affair it'll be!" says @@RANDOMFIRSTNAME_1@@ von @@RANDOMLASTNAME@@-@@RANDOMLASTNAME@@, a wealthy aristocrat who has already feverishly started making calls to @@HIS_1@@ closest political allies. "All the finest folk of the realm, the noblest of the noble, joined together in one momentous occasion to elect the new ruler from the best amongst ourselves. Nothing can go wrong by letting the nation's biggest egos choose who'll wear the crown next, I guarantee it! Oh, and do tell them over at the palace to keep that throne warm for me, yes?"

[Effect 1] @@NAME@@ is brought to the brink of civil war every time the nobles come together to elect a new monarch

[Option 2] "Well, maybe we could, uhm... I don't know, sorry for this, but err..." stammers an awkward, robustly built noblewoman called Samuella Darly, fiddling with her fingers while lowering her gaze when speaking. "Well, since whoever will sit upon the throne will rule all of us and the people... maybe, perhaps, possibly... we could let them, the people I mean, heh, decide as well? I mean, maybe they'd have, uhm, a candidate in mind as well? Someone from their own? S-surely, that would be fair, right? We care about being fair, r-right?"

[Effect 2] even the factory worker down the street can become monarch of @@NAME@@

[Option 3] After Prince @@RANDOMMALENAME@@ and his clique have recovered from guffawing at Samuella Darly's suggestion, he turns to you wheezing. "And I'll ask my horse what he wants! No, but in all seriousness, this talk about letting anyone outside the royal family choose who'll wear the crown next is ludicrous. It's obvious only the reigning monarch knows which family member loves them the mos-err, I mean, is most suitable for the nation's most important role and duty, so we should just leave the choice of appointing a successor to them!"

[Effect 3] members of the royal family have started nicknaming the reigning monarch 'Lear'

[Option 4] "If we're considering electing our monarch, why not just run elections for President of @@NAME@@ instead?" asks Princess @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@, who has her hand in a cast after having strained it while cutting ribbons. "I mean, being a royal is so tiring, we have no privacy, can't marry the person we want to and need to pretend we actually care for those, uhm, malodorous commoners all the time... I'm just so tired of it and I'm sure the others are too! Cousin @@RANDOMNAME@@ even had to go into therapy because @@HIS@@ parents couldn't stop @@HIM@@ from smiling and waving all the time. Just give us a break and let @@NAME@@ become a republic!"

[Effect 4] the former monarch of @@NAME@@ is feverishly organizing an election campaign to stay in power

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Second Draft

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[Name] Who Wants To Be A Monarch?

[Validity] Must be a monarchy

[Description] After last night's final episode of the immensely popular series A Play of Chairs had suggested that a monarch could be elected on the basis of their merits rather then their birthrights, prominent voices in @@NAME@@ have started calling for the nation's monarchy to become elective as well.

[Option 1] "Oh, what a jolly affair it'll be!" says @@RANDOMFIRSTNAME_1@@ von @@RANDOMLASTNAME@@-@@RANDOMLASTNAME@@, a wealthy aristocrat who has already feverishly started making calls to @@HIS_1@@ closest political allies. "All the finest folk of the realm, the noblest of the noble, joined together in one momentous occasion to elect the new monarch from the best amongst ourselves. Nothing can go wrong by letting the nation's biggest egos choose who'll wear the crown next, I guarantee it! Oh, and do tell them over at the palace to keep that throne warm for me, yes?"

[Effect 1] @@NAME@@ is brought to the brink of civil war every time the nobles come together to elect a new monarch

[Option 2] "Well, maybe we could, uhm... I don't know, sorry for this, but err..." stammers an awkward, robustly built noblewoman called Samuella Darly, fiddling with her fingers while lowering her gaze when speaking. "Well, since whoever will sit upon the throne will reign over all of us and the people... maybe, perhaps, possibly... we could let them, the people I mean, heh, decide as well? I mean, maybe they'd have, uhm, a candidate in mind as well? Someone from their own? S-surely, that would be fair, right? We care about being fair, r-right?"

[Effect 2] even the factory worker down the street can become monarch of @@NAME@@

[Option 3] After Prince @@RANDOMMALENAME@@ and his clique have recovered from guffawing at Samuella Darly's suggestion, he turns to you wheezing. "And I'll ask my horse what he wants! No, but in all seriousness, this talk about letting anyone outside the royal family choose who'll wear the crown next is ludicrous. It's obvious only the reigning monarch knows which family member loves them the mos-err, I mean, is most suitable for the nation's most important role and duty, so we should just leave the choice of appointing a successor to them!"

[Effect 3] members of the royal family have started nicknaming the reigning monarch 'Lear'

[Option 4] "If we're considering electing our monarch, why not just run elections for President of @@NAME@@ instead?" asks Princess @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@, who has her hand in a cast after having strained it while cutting ribbons. "I mean, being a royal is so tiring, we have no privacy, can't marry the person we want to and need to pretend we actually care for those, uhm, malodorous commoners all the time... I'm just so tired of it and I'm sure the others are too! Cousin @@RANDOMNAME@@ even had to go into therapy because @@HIS@@ parents couldn't stop @@HIM@@ from smiling and waving all the time. Just give us a break and let @@NAME@@ become a republic!"

[Effect 4] the former monarch of @@NAME@@ is feverishly organizing an election campaign to stay in power

[Australian rePublic]

How does having an elected monarch differ from being a republic, other than the fact that said monarch rules for life? It's a very neiche catagory which isn't too distinct from republicanism.

[Great Robertia]

How does having an elected monarch differ from being a republic, other than the fact that said monarch rules for life? It's a very neiche catagory which isn't too distinct from republicanism.

It differs from the fact that you're a monarchy and not a republic. The head of state is a king/queen/emperor/empress etc and not a President, which creates a huge difference in regard and general treatment of this figure.

I don't think debating the difference and similarities between elective monarchies and republicanism is significant to the issue draft however. That's something for the real world political philosophers to figure out. But as you said, it is indeed niche, and as can be seen from the existing issues, it's not yet dealt with. So at least we can be sure there's no duplicate at the moment

[Baggieland]

The problem with the monarchy policy is that when we write issues about it, we can't assume that the monarch is also LEADER. In some nations that is the case, but in other nations the monarch is just a ceremonial figurehead.

I suggest rejigging your draft and take out / rephrase the bits that state the monarch has LEADER's authority. Then see what it looks like from there.

[Great Robertia]

The problem with the monarchy policy is that when we write issues about it, we can't assume that the monarch is also LEADER. In some nations that is the case, but in other nations the monarch is just a ceremonial figurehead.

I suggest rejigging your draft and take out / rephrase the bits that state the monarch has LEADER's authority. Then see what it looks like from there.

But I've already done that in the original draft? I have actually written it with the perspective in mind that LEADER is not the monarch, to keep myself objective. Can you point me to where it is implied LEADER would be the monarch? Because whenever there is mention of a monarch, it's always in the third person or "them/they" and I tried keeping LEADER and the monarch separated by making it seem as if the monarch is someone not present in the room but clearly talked about. Take speaker 1 for example, they talk about the monarch as if they're not there. The same goes for speaker 2 and 3, especially speaker 3, who speaks about the monarch in third person to LEADER.

[Baggieland]

Well, since whoever will sit upon the throne will rule all of us and the people

joined together in one momentous occasion to elect the new ruler

[Great Robertia]

Well, since whoever will sit upon the throne will rule all of us and the people

joined together in one momentous occasion to elect the new ruler

But I fail to see how these imply LEADER is the monarch? LEADER could be seen as the Prime Minister listening to the people before he/she reports to the monarch? That was the perspective I was writing from. Is the use of the word "rule" the problem here? Because a Prime Minister below a King or Queen can also rule.

[Baggieland]

Is the use of the word "rule" the problem here?

Yes!

Changing "rule" to "reign" should sort this out.

[Great Robertia]

Is the use of the word "rule" the problem here?

Yes!

Changing "rule" to "reign" should sort this out.

Alright, gotcha!

The changes have been put into the second draft. I replaced "new ruler" with "new monarch" and "rule" with "reign over". I checked over the entirety again to see if there might be other spots where the separation between Leader and the Monarch was too small, but didn't spot any. If they are there, please do point them out to me and I'll try to fix it!

[Great Robertia]

Any new suggestions or remarks on the 2nd draft? What can I improve upon, add or remove?