With the monarchy being more of a figurehead, various members are patrons of charities’ and advocate charity work. They will formally open things like factories, infrastructure, parks, etc. Even my own work place was opened by the Queen.
As an outsider, it seems to me that the president couldn’t go to half of the country and do the same thing. Who does the job there? And who is universally popular enough to be king or queen – or uncle sam? To give counsel to the president whoever they may be?
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It tends to be local or statewide figures. The mayor, the governor, maybe a beloved local celebrity, that kind of thing.
I.
I will be king.
And you.
You will be queen.
It’s usually a local politician like the mayor, town council president, or for a large event the state’s governor. The President may do a ribbon cutting at a new national park, other federal facility, or a private business that is part of their political agenda (ie. “My campaign promised to bring this type of jobs to this area, today we open this facility”)
Also, we firmly rejected the idea of royalty a few hundred years ago, it’s not a favorable title here.
What? Being a monarch has fuckall to do with popularity – you should know this as a resident of a country that has still not thrown off that outdated institution.
>various members are patrons of charities’ and advocate charity work. They will formally open things like factories, infrastructure, parks, etc
They do that shit to make you feel better about the fact that they’re richer than you and pay fewer taxes, bro. It isn’t like they’re uniquely qualified to do those things.
Mayor, governor, or even just a state senator or something like that.
We don’t have much love for royalty as you may know.
I’d say that our President does some of the ceremonial stuff too, but its often delegated to the VP or cabinet secretaries. Members of Congress, Governors, and state level lawmakers also love to attend ribbon cutting ceremonies.
I’m thinking idealistically highly of Americans, of course, but I assume it’s intrinsic in a lot of us to not want a monarch, no matter how well-liked or genuinely kind he or she is. There are celebrities who have their followings, but even those are confined to a certain niche. For public events such as the kind attended by royals in the UK, the organization will likely pick out a relevant government official or celebrity.
The ironic thing is the Vic president is probably closet to what you are talking about. The only really power they have is casting the deciding vote in the senate in the event of a tie. So they are kind of like the spokesman for the president. They help with campaigning and pushing certain agendas. That said most of the time the Vic President is not particularly well know and because of partisan politics fairly unpopular in large swaths of the country.
>With the monarchy being more of a figurehead, various members are patrons of charities’ and advocate charity work. They will formally open things like factories, infrastructure, parks, etc. Even my own work place was opened by the Queen.
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1. The first lady or second lady/gentlemen for high profile events. The spouse of the president/vice president is not an official or paid position. But the person in the role has their “job” expanded from running the day to day life in the white house/throwing parties to being the face of the charity and philanthropy part of the president/vice presidents goals
2. The governor and their spouse or Lt. Gov. I’ve met Whitmer twice simply because she was at the opening of a new building
3. Senators and representatives with their spouses. I’ve met Senator Gary Peters and a number of state/federal house representatives because of similar reasons.
4. High-er level staffer going to events in the name of their boss. That don’t look good and most avoid that.
Constituent services is a **major** part of all elected officials jobs and all levels of elected officials make time to go back to their areas for openings and dedications
To answer the question on who is universally liked enough:
Dolly Parton
In the US, the president is both the head of government and the head of state.
Most communities have a local Chamber of Commerce. It is composed of local business leaders. They usually have a committee to support new business and do ribbon cuttings.
“So go on home, British soldiers, go on home
Have you got no fucking homes of your own?
For eight hundred years, we’ve fought you without fear
And we’ll fight you for eight hundred more
If you stay, British soldiers, if you stay
You’ll never ever beat the I.R.A
For the fourteen men in Derry
Are the last that you will bury
And take a tip and leave us while you may”
It’s usually someone in local government who does those things. I don’t think anyone in this country is universally popular enough to hold such a position, and I don’t think the American public has the appetite for it.
The royals just seem to be well funded Kardashians with a veneer of respectability, and I think most other Americans share my distaste. Having a monarch would be a violation of our founding principles.
The closest we have to the wealthy and powerful who are patrons of charities and advocate charity work are wealthy business owners and members of Hollywood.
And usually the formal opening of infrastructure projects and the like are the local politicians in an area: the mayor or (just as likely) the governor of the State. (Remember: we’re 50 semi-sovereign states, each with their own executive leader in the form of a governor.)
We eschew royal titles, but if if we were looking for someone who was universally popular and who has done so much to help this country–I’d vote for Dolly Parton.
During COVID-19, it was fascinating to read the list of sponsors to various research groups searching for a vaccine–and you’d read down the list and see things like “sponsored by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the University of Oxford, and Dolly Parton.”
Doesn’t matter, they all fly the same.
The president has a whole cabinet and slew of advisors to give counsel. They don’t need some nincompoop who inherited the role regardless of qualifications.
We also have loads of celebrities and philanthropists and politicians and local high-profile people advocating charity work.
The closest thing we would probably have to something that’s king-like, would be the veep.
Why does anyone need to do this? Who cares about a supermarket opening?