哈诺德.布鲁克斯Ÿ帕克认为君主制能防止那些政治家们掌握所有的权力。
It keeps politicians from holding all the power BY HAROLD BROOKS-BAKER
温斯顿.丘吉尔常说议会制的民主政体以及君主立宪制都是不完美的——但是迄今为止人类所创建的最好的制度。
Winston Churchill often described parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy as being imperfect----but the best that man had yet devised.
要求在领导地位有一位领导者是人类的本性，在这个世纪我们依赖国家的首脑来承担这个角色，一国之首在独立于政治之上的同时不仅要执行礼仪方面的责任，还应该促进培养政治责任观念。当然，在首脑是个不折不扣的政治家——或是美国，首脑就是政治领导者这样的地方，上述情况根本不可能。像在欧洲仍然存在的其它几个王朝一样，英国的君主立宪制恰当地展示了作为挂名领袖为何君主比总统更成功。
It is human nature to require a leader at the helm. In our century we have looked to our heads of state for this role. Apart from carrying out cer
emonial duties, a head of state should foster the notion of political accountability, while remaining above politics. That, of course, can’t be true in places where the head of state is an ex-politician----or in America, where the head of state is the political leader. The British system of constitutional monarchy, like the more than half-dozen monarchies still in existence in Europe, aptly shows why a monarch is a more successfulfigureheadthan a president.
“在英国约定俗成的事情会变成习惯，习惯了的事情则变成宪法的规定”，40年前美国的历史学家乔治·布灵顿·库柏是这样写的。在英国君主依然是宪法的中心，作为立宪君主，伊莉莎白二世所执掌的权力可能令许多人惊讶。她可以选择首相，解散议会，对外宣布战争。实际上，她放弃了这些权力，而且根据传统惯例她必须接受议会的建议。这种制度会阻止政治家们轻易篡权。而且，正如人们所争论的那样，自从17世纪奥利弗·克伦威尔的短命统治之后这种制度可以阻止一个独裁者统治整个英国。
“In Great Britain things that are conventional become habitual, and things that are habitual become constitutional[ 2 ],” wrote American historian George Brinton Cooper 40 years ago. In Britain the monarch remains very much at the heart of its Constitution. As constitutional monarch, Queen ElizabethⅡ[ 3 ]holds powers that may surprise many. She can choose a prime minister, dissolve Parliament and declare war. In reality, shewaives these powers and is bound by tradition to accept the advice of Parliament. This system prevents politicians from too easilyusurping power and, it may be argued, has prevented a dictator from dominating Great Britain since Oliver Cromwell’s short rule in the 17thcentury.
君主制的长处之—在于它从来不参与任何党派竞争，作为一种机构，它显示了自己的不偏不倚，这种漠不关心政治的态度使得英国的政治文化能够相对轻松地融合其它理论，尽管这些理论表面看来与君主制的政府有着激烈的冲突——例如社会主义。
It is one of the great strengths of monarchy that it has never taken sides in any political debate, that it shows itself, as an institution, to beevenhanded. Thisapoliticalstance has made it possible for the political culture of Great Britain toassimilate, with relative ease, theories that would appear on the face of things to be radically at odds with a system of monarchical government----for example, socialism[ 4 ]. Monarchy in this century has worked with socialist governments as effectively as with those whose politics one might choose to think were more sympathetic to the institution.
如果人们要放弃君主制，那么政府，议会，国家乃至整个英联邦都会被彻底颠覆，英国主要机构中每个人的难题及退出都将因为巨变而改变，请记住，从邮局到武装军队的每一机构都行使着来自君主的权力。派往波黑去的军队以及人们信箱里的信件都属于女王陛下的这种制度已证明可行——而且通常人们认为如果某事可行，它就应该被保留下来，无论是财政方面还是在失去统一的民族特征乃至关重要的历史环节方面来说，任何一种替代都将损失巨大，只有君主制能提供持续性，在国民观念不断变化的国家里保持稳定。
If one were to jettisonthe monarchy, government, parliament, the nation and the commonwealth would be turned upside down. Every nut and bolt of every one of Britain’s major institutions would have to be altered tomake way forchange. Bear in mind that every organ from the post office to the armed services acts with authority from the monarch. The troops that are sent to Bosnia and the letters that arrive in one’s letter box are all effectively Her Majesty’s. This is a system that has shown itself to work----and it’s generally agreed that if something works, it should be retained. Any replacement would be ruinously costly, both in financial terms and alsoin terms ofthe loss of a unifying national symbol and a vital historical link[ 5 ]. Only a monarchy can provide such continuity, remaining constant in a country’s ever-changing national vision.
英国君主制在服务于英帝国及英联邦方面颇县盛名，在英国，人们容易忘记伊莉莎白不仅是一个小岛国的元首，并且是英联邦53个国家及地区的无首，人口总数达到15亿，简而言之，她是地球上超过1/4居民的元首。正如所指，她飞遍世界，培养联邦国家之间的团结，紧接着是贸易，以及对国家工业和商业必不可少的经济宣传。在国内，君主制成为数以百万美元计的旅游业中心（伊莉莎白二世每年为此项财富吸引九千多万美元）。在各种全国性的场合，君主制都增添了自尊感和历史联想。毫无疑问，被君主召见比被总统召见更令人激动。
British monarchy has served both the empire and the commonwealth with great distinction. It is easy to forget in Great Britain that Queen Elizabeth is head of state not only of one small island nation, but also of the 53 nations of the commonwealth, with a combined population of 1.5 billion. In short, she is head of state to more than one quarter of the earth’s inhabitants. As such, she flies the world nurturing a sense of unity between nations. From this follows trade, and a vital economic boost to the nation’s industry and commerce. At home, monarchy is at the center of a multimillion-dollar tourist industry. (And Elizabeth Ⅱdonates more than $90 million a year to the treasury.) Monarchy adds dignity and historical relevance to all state occasions, and there can be no doubt that it is still more impressive to be met by a monarch than by a president.
然而君主制也遇到威胁，因为共和制看起来更民主，并且没有那么明显的等级性，在经历了“令人惊异之年”“凯米拉事件”“斯奎迪”事件，以及其它皇室丑闻后，公众对英国君主制的支持率降到38%。支持率的降低很大程度上源自于公众对“君主制”和“皇家”这两个概念的混淆，在君主制中只有一位重要人物：执行统治的君主，皇室其它成员在公共场合的行为及演说——无论是值得称赞的还是令人反感的——都对君主的权力或地位没有任何影响，也不应将任何个人的行为和性格与历史更久远的机构相混同。君主制的合法性来自于其历史，传统，以及它不能被任何短暂的个人崇拜所推翻这个事实，它博得太多的尊崇。
And yet monarchy is threatened because the idea of republicanism seems more democratic and less overtly hierarchical. After the “annus horribilis[ 6 ],” “Camillagate,” “Squidgygate” and other royal antics, support for the monarchy in Great Britain dropped to 38 percent. Yet these poll results stem largely from a confusion in the public mind between the words “monarchy” and “royal family[ 7 ].” In a monarchy there is only one person of importance: the reigning monarch. The public actions and statements of other members of the royal family----howeverlaudableor distressing they may be----have no effect on the monarch’s power or status[ 8 ]. Nor should any individual’s character of conduct be confused with those of an institution of much longer standing. Monarchy’s legitimacy flows from its history and traditions and from the fact that it cannot be overwhelmed by any short-lived cult of personality. It commands too much respect.
尽管近来反君主制的倾向突然爆发，然而在这个国家很难发现倾向于共和制的强有力的运动，共和制没有产生焦点，也没有哪个受欢迎的政党号召除去君主制，即使英国最受重视的宽面报纸之一，《独立报》，呼吁在君主制去留问题上做更广泛的议论时仍然提倡保留伊丽莎白女王作为国家元首直至她辞世。综上所述这些意味着什么？英国人喜欢所有事按照它们原有的道路进行下去。
Despite recent bursts of anti-monarchical feeling, however, it is still hard to discover a strong movement toward a republic[ 9 ]in this country. There is still no focus for this opposition, nor has any popular political party taken up the call for the monarch’s removal. EvenThe Independent, one of Britain’s most respected broadsheet newspapers, in its call for a wider debate on this issue still advocated theretentionof Queen Elizabeth as head of state until her death[ 10 ]. Taken together, what does all this show? That people like things the way they are.
网友评论