If you had a choice, would you vote to keep the monarchy?

[katemiddletonsnudeheels]

Or not?

And what are your reasons? :)

No. It cannot be right that they are heads of state simply by birth. They've done nothing to earn it.

Every child should have the equal chance to grow up to be head of state.

Nothing against Elizabeth Windsor personally, but I don't see her as being any more special than any of the lovely old ladies in my aunt's care home. Some of them have amazing histories and have contributed a huge amount to society in their time.

Yes I'd keep them. I like having a non political head of state. I also think we are lucky to have stable institutions in this country, and I for one don't want to change our system of government.

I might not like every president but I wouldn't have to put up with them for their whole life, only to be followed by their offspring, and their offspring, and..

Ummmm........... North Korea.........

Get rid. No place for a hereditary ruler in modern society

Keep.

Hate the idea of a president.
Like having a royal Family.
Like seeing/reading republican types getting frothy and cross.

Keep them of course

Keep - although get rid of the extended family which is so big it's crazy.

The money spent on them would be spent several times over keeping a president /string of ex presidents who still need security etc even after their term is up.

I think the monarchy is a massive part of our national identity and while I don't necessarily agree with the 'tourism' argument peddled by a lots of monarchists, I still think our (very old, very famous) monarchy marks us out as different in the modern world.

I also don't understand people who have a go at William. Chances are he'll be starting his job just as most of us are approaching retirement age. He's currently two generations removed from the throne and has a young family to focuson. I wouldn't be busting a complete gut at this point, either.

I'd vote to abolish the role. In a modern society we should just "choose" our head of state because they were born to the right family.

I can take or leave them to be honest

But the president doesn't need to be a politician Topseyt, could be any distinguished public figure who achieves enough votes. 'President Blair' is bandied about as an argument for monarchy but how many votes is he really likely to get?

Other advanced republics manage with a presidential system, so why wouldn't we?

And if we elect a president he can be voted out and replaced if he doesn't do a good job. That is democracy, which I regard as a Good Thing on principle.

With monarchy you are stuck for life with whoever an accident of birth places as next in line. To your 'President Blair' argument my retort is 'King Charles lll'.

Keep!

Should we have a President Blair Law, much like Godwin's Law?

I get 'frothy and cross' MangoMoon because I am scared my severely disabled DC benefits are about to be cut (he is far from alone BTW), then see the fawning and lavish expenditure on this family.

BMW6, North Korea is a monarchy in all but name.

Yes I would keep them.

Because I like them more than I like change .

Definitely get rid. I don't understand how anyone can think it's OK to have a non-elected person/family as head of state. It's so out of date.

Any head of state should be elected and secular.

As for the commonwealth ..... Don't get me started.

Keep them, though I'm not a royalist. I think the Queen has done a good job and I like Prince Charles. Not keen on William though, I think he's a bit of a misery.
I think we would be ok if we got rid of them though, and I cant see the need for a "figure head", royal or otherwise.
Id rather have them though, than not have them.

Living, I'm sorry that you are worried for your son, but the existence of the monarchy doesn't have anything to do with the reduction of disability benefits.

I would vote to get rid of them, we are supposedly a democracy and our head of state should be voted for. Plus the release of the spider memos show how much influence some members of the royal family are abusing.

Oops, sorry for my crappy English

Get rid. What they represent is obscene, just obscene.,

At least Blair never got caught on tape telling Cherie how much he wanted to be her tampon...
I find the Royal Family very entertaining but would still vote for them to be disposed.

Well they are an oddity as a head of state, don't see the point really. We have no control over who it is, consequently they should have no opinion. Maybe keep the monarchy but remove their special status as head of state and church of england and let them be taxed like everyone else.

Get rid. Waste of money, and offensive to me that they are deemed worthy purely by luck of their birth/marriage.

Yes, I'd keep them. I don't want us to have a president, it would seem so corporate, grey and dull in comparison. I like the culture and heritage, carriages, horses, Buckingham palace. Tourists like those things too, and this generates revenue as said above. I don't necessarily like every royal, but I think other countries admire our royal family in general and this helps with building good relationships with them.

I'd definitely keep them.