Still Walking into all the Traps?

...Because we're not looking at the underlying principles

This short piece of writing will serve as a sort of wrap-around commentary on the video conversation I’ve just had with Damien that I’m highlighting below.

In it, we discussed two fundamental topics:

1. The recent uproar (and distraction?) over the King’s religious role

2. The inability of many to see the biggest Constitutional distortion in history

So the first topic of the uproar over Charles. Everyone is on the bandwagon on this one; boy has this got people fired-up. Christians and non-Christians alike I suspect. Church-goers and no-doubt plenty of people who haven’t attended church in years.

Here are some examples from X…

https://x.com/RareGem_26/status/2072287524706295965

https://x.com/davidicke/status/2072088241696657428

https://x.com/blairhall25/status/2072014745771610413

…But thank goodness for the odd sensible voice too:

https://x.com/chronoroyals/status/2072107603685937179

https://x.com/Lord_Talbot64/status/2070938400761241831

Of course it is worth mentioning at this point that Queen Elizabeth II did exactly the same thing, for good reason. The people who say things like ‘Is Charles going to be the most unpopular King ever?’ might now be starting to look a little silly. In her speech from 2012 at Lambeth Palace, the late Queen said…

Here at Lambeth Palace we should remind ourselves of the significant position of the Church of England in our nation’s life. The concept of our established Church is occasionally misunderstood and, I believe, commonly under-appreciated. Its role is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country.

The full article can be found here:

https://www.royal.uk/queens-speech-lambeth-palace-15-february-2012?__cf_chl_f_tk=LXNcfFzRPo8QSQeixlJjxNo16gamaQNVbuCMeFm_0bE-1782911619-1.0.1.1-W7EkYRPoGxpO1FoSjZ3F19lgJVF0RaKxfERH7h1BYDU

It is worth us all remembering that one of the most fundamental principles of the Christian faith itself essentially boils down to ‘do not remove another man’s choices’ (i.e. do not use coercion and force.) This is the principle of the Golden Rule: ‘Do not do unto others as you would wish not done to you.’ / ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’)

And so, King Charles (along with his mother before him) is/was upholding that most fundamental principle quite correctly—the Constitution (in its proper authentic form) is based on that very principle. Whilst the Constitution and the English Law system has an important connection with Christianity, the articles of Common Law itself that make up our principles of governance, are actually a reflection of the Natural Laws that exist in reality: the principles of individual rights, equity, the need for consent, the people own the law etc. All these are equally recognisable by anyone (or at least should be!), regardless of their religion.

If people are capable of getting this fired-up about a topic like this, how did we react to the idea that the government is going to attempt to remove the most valuable mechanism of Trial by Jury—that allows the people to protect themselves from and scrutinise dangerous, arbitrary or tyrannous legislation? How did we all handle that one?

Well—mostly pretty badly. We actually didn’t really care two hoots over that, and generally remained silent over the whole issue of the Leveson Review. The only people who actually did give a damn over the proposition to further restrict Trial by Jury were the people we like to hurl abuse at: the MPs and the Lawyers.

Altogether, I would say that ‘the people’ aren’t doing terribly well at protecting their liberty. Why? Because they’re allowing themselves to be manipulated and to believe false notions and not ground themselves in principles. They’re not busying themselves in their own education of how governance works.

So something short and definitely worth reading as I move into the second topic that Damien and I discussed, is this piece by LW:

Some thoughts Regarding the “No Kings” Movement

So onto the second topic: Allowing ourselves to believe the legitimacy behind the biggest Constitutional Distortion in history: The Glorious Revolution and the resulting Bill of Rights.

The parallels that can be drawn here with what is happening now (with King Charles III) and what was happening to James II in the late 1680s is fascinating. James was the victim of a massive propaganda campaign over the subject of religion. It is claimed that he was trying to take the country Catholic—an absurd claim given that Catholics made up of no more than about 1% of the population. There was no way that James was going to be able ‘take the country Catholic’ even if he’d wanted to. He wanted people to be Catholic, yes, and felt it was the true path but ultimately he wanted choice. His actions in the issuing of the Declaration of Indulgence was, in his mind, an act of levelling the playfield and one of civil rights. He wasn’t focussing only on Catholics, he was trying to remove the prejudice on Jews, Quakers, Catholics, Baptists and many others—because they were prohibited from being officers in the military and were precluded from attending University among other things.

James was consistently concerned about justice and, interestingly, was good friends with William Penn, who later founded the state of Pennsylvania. Particularly interesting, of course, is that Penn was the subject of the famous Bushel’s case in 1670 which resulted in the ruling of Justice Vaughan on the principle that the Jury can deliver a verdict according to their convictions (as recorded on a plaque in the Old Bailey). James II kept good company then!

So what is happening here in our own century? I’m not saying that Charles III is the paragon of virtue—but what I am saying, is that it is ironic that he is now possibly a victim of the same kind of propaganda exercise that was the basis for the Dutch coup of 1689.

What is going on here and why are so many people getting whipped-up? Are people being deliberately led? Are people being encouraged to call for the end of the King and/or the monarchy itself?

The tricky thing is that the current King is actually a product of 1689—the unconstitutional reduced role of Kingship illegally put in place by the ‘Convention’ and the resulting ‘Settlement’. He can’t act (at least it is claimed) in full defence of the people because he’s [supposedly] bound by conventions that favour Parliament.

This second issue is about the kind of governing framework that was put in place to replace the ‘individual rights’-based Constitution of 1215. The 1689 framework was about the elevation of the powers of Parliament and ultimately making the King an order-follower. In this arrangement, Parliament is made supreme and can (it is purported) make any law it likes so long as they can get enough people to go along with it. Whilst said piece of legislation is in place, that ‘law’ is considered perfectly legitimate; however unconscionable or immoral it may seem. They will claim that no consent is required, and worse, due to the Leveson review and the further removal of Trial by Jury—which would be the mechanism through which the citizenry provide consent to a piece of legislation, there is now no safeguard for the people.

The problem is not with the King so much, but rather with the unconstitutional and illegitimate governing framework that we have had in place for the last nearly 350 years in which the modern monarchs are expected to ‘function’. And the people have mostly not spotted this, once again.

Unless the people become a bit more savvy on this, and fast, they will continue to fall into traps. If the people don’t educate themselves on precisely how the Constitutional distortions have taken place, and don’t become clear on the moral principles that must be in place for legitimate governance, then they will continue to fall into traps.

Enjoy the conversation:

Further reading:

The Requirements for Freedom (A quick bullet point list!)
https://substack.com/@willkeyte/p-202702435

Bill of Rights? Or Bill of Wrongs:
https://substack.com/@willkeyte/p-172330967