Regal envy
The common people are easily provoked. And more easily driven to forgiveness, if history is any measure. Just consider the love/hate relationship that exists between those who have, and those who have less. I’m not examining the richer/poorer universality here. Rather, the ability of mankind to rest subservient to those with regal titles.
Our recently departed lieutenant-governor has provided headlines in the provincial newspapers for the last couple of days by taking part in the regional economy. That is to say, by assisting the duly elected government in their eternal quest to redistribute the tax dollar throughout the system. That is to say, by spending like there was no bottom in the money well. Spending well.
She (like most monarchs, there is no proper name, just a title with a capital letter), saw fit to pass on close to a million dollars to the local merchant class in a bit less than ten years. Hardly an exorbitant amount, when you consider the right of kings. Minor change, in the whole of the budget for a goverment that is headed by Her, however symbolic the role. My own take is that She did what any person with vice-regal tastes would do; she refused to eat McFood or sleep on Cheap Sheets.
But, there is nothing like the jealousy of a serf toward the monarch. Envy girdled with respect. An oxymoron. The press (those churls) are in protest against Her, because She did what any of them would have done, had they been so placed.
I think that we should remember a beautiful home (a castle, to the rest of us) that was deemed unfit for the LG at the time of appointment; an apartment was offered as a replacement, and the original mansion was sold to a commoner who tore it down and built something with more garage space. If you offered me a job, which used to have a proper house to return to after a strenuous day in office (note, not at the office; this is a few tiers up in terms of description of the role) and offered to replace it with an apartment, I too might see fit to spend to excess as a form of rebuttal. I also ask that we mention the She never actually spent (that is not the role of a vice-monarch) money. Everything was done in the goverment form of authorized expenses. No “slush fund” here; just shoddy accounting practices.
How be we give this story a rest? I’m sure the goverment will do something else to get our dander up, if we give them a few minutes of unsupervised play time.
