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How a Republic Would Abolish the States

Hal G.P. Colebatch

Jan 30 2019

10 mins

The monarchy-versus-republic debate has, naturally and obviously, centred on the role or otherwise of the Crown, with all its nobility and beauty and its role as a final safeguard against power-hungry, selfish, value-free politicians.

There is, however, another, and I believe sinister, agenda attached to this debate which we must make the electorate aware of. Abolishing the monarchy is a large and necessary step towards abolishing the states.

This essay appears in the current Quadrant.
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The great conservative philosopher Russell Kirk wrote, in Ten Conservative Principles:

Conservatives pay attention to the principle of variety. They feel affection for the proliferating intricacy of … modes of life, as distinct from the narrow uniformity and deadening egalitarianism of radical systems.

Leftists and radicals hate, or at least oppose, federalism because, like monarchy, it is a block stopping their plans to impose all power and a uniform culture.

The same…

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