I bet you didn’t know it, but the United States is … a monarchy.

What!?

Don’t worry: this is familiar territory for us. We were a monarchy once before when King George III was king of the New England colonies. That is, up until the Revolutionary War. After the war, we threw off the shackles and forged a new identity as a free nation without titles or hereditary positions….

Until now.

Today confirmed for me that we are back to being a monarchy, or at least right around the corner from being one. Fred Dicker, currently the State Editor for the New York Post, referred to someone in the position of Lieutentant Governor as being an “heir apparent” during his time on Don Imus’ radio show.

People are even using monarchy terminology to identify positions of power in this country now. On top of the Kennedy replacement debacle, this is yet another sign that monarchy will never die.

For those of you unfamiliar with America’s state governments, the title of lieutenant governor is the highest officer of state after the governor, standing in for the governor when he is temporarily incapacitated. If for some reason a governor dies, resigns, or is removed from office, the lieutenant governor usually becomes the governor. In the case of Massachusetts, if any of the above scenarios occur, the lieutenant governor becomes acting governor until the next election.

So in other words, the Lt. Gov. takes over to maintain order until the people can vote and have a say. This makes sense. Something like the Kennedy family and the senate seat controversy does not. At least, it doesn’t make sense for a democratic country.

Since Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy’s death, there has been a huge amount of speculation over who would replace him. As I understand it, his seat was to remain empty until we could vote in a new senator at the designated election time, but because President Obama’s healthcare reform bill is up on the block, officials don’t want to wait. There was much scurrying about to change laws so that the Massachusetts governor, Deval Patrick, could have the power to appoint an interim senator now rather than later in order to help pass the healthcare bill.

Kennedy’s family members are publicly pushing the governor to choose the candidate they want. Famous family members who are not elected and shady moves that take the power of the vote from our hands, determining who is right or wrong for an elected office? Hm. Interesting.

Temporary though he may be, the replacement being put into the senate seat in this manner seems slightly less than democratic. The only thing that could make this more appalling is if the public doesn’t care. That would be tragic.

At least monarchy has never pretended to be anything other than what it is – an unelected hereditary system. People love it or hate it, but at least they know what they’re dealing with.

Here in the U.S.A., we have a long history of struggling to become a democratic nation where elections are the norm. We are told stories of the heroics and democratic ideals of the men who founded our nation. The men and women who hold public office today are neither heroic nor democratic, it seems. They are anything but noble and barely repress the scorn they feel at having to allow the public a say in what happens in their own lives.

Politicians today hold up a shield of democracy and fairness, but behind it they carry a proverbial sword to slay anyone who throws a monkey wrench into their carefully crafted plans of self-gain.

You can turn your back on the Queen, but never turn your back on a politician.