Sure, I’m a … radical. BUT I’M ALSO A SUCKER FOR TRADITION. As I write, my touch-pad shakes as Queen (Elizabeth) is receiving about a 100-gun salute (maybe not 100, but far more than our 21 max), as she leaves Buckingham Palace and heads off to Westminster to open a New Parliament with the traditional “Queen’s Speech.” Of course, this nod to tradition is also a nod to Radicalism (especially after a return from the Middle East). The “radical idea” (ever so recent in the human journey) is … DEMOCRACY! Problems with Old Georgey Three aside, we Americans are the descendants of the Great British Experiment with self-rule! Hooray for the Queen! Hooray for her symbolic importance! Hip Hip Hooray for her powerlessness!
