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On the contrary my dear fellow, you are actually the one that is confused because the US is both a REPUBLIC and a DEMOCRACY through and through. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Especially considering that many citizens of those countries such as yourself are doing everything in their power to defend and making excuses for that barbaric and undemocratic institution.
And the democratic US constitution was created with a way for it's people to legally make amendments such as extending voting rights. Is there a specified legal way for you to remove your country's monarchy?
Nope the USA is not democratic when one looks at your Senate, in comparison NZ is a pure Democracy.
I believe the answer is yes, but I honestly don't know the specifics of it.
Chevy touched on it a couple posts up:
Also, I can't access this site from work anymore (political), but if I remember it from the last time I read it, it might have the information you need.
www.canadian-republic.ca/faq.html
Ok, but doesn't the Queen have the legal ability to block the amendment against her?
As to your description of a barbaric, undemocratic institution as compared to a Democracy through and through. I once again refer you back to post #53 .
Which country again is droning it's own citizens?
Which country enacted legislation called a Patriot Act to basically abrogate civil rights and liberties by allowing the indefinite incarceration of someone without due process?
Which country is it that is spying on it's own citizens.
That "through and through Democracy" is through all right! Only thing remaining is to stick a fork in it.
Time you used some of that constitutional amendment thingy to put your money where your mouth is, wouldn't you say?
Of course America's not a perfect democracy because that's not possible, but it is a democracy through and through.
And of course America has made mistakes, just like any other country. But how does that change the fact that an unelected monarch with permeant executive powers is not democratic?
Are you that desperate to change the subject in the name of your beloved monarchy?
Nope the USA is not democratic when one looks at your Senate, in comparison NZ is a pure Democracy.
New Zealand doesn't even have a senate, so what exactly are you comparing to the US senate? Further more, the US Senate was elected, the New Zealand Head of state was not. Your argument makes no sense at all, try again next time.
The Queen is bigger than just the U.K - she may reside there but as HOS of Canada she is actually the Queen of Canada not the Queen of England - BIG difference.
The Instigator or should I say OP in this thread is from the U.S and kept shoving down our throats how much better the U.S system is over ours.. that's why America is mentioned - I think that's kinda easy to understand lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by iNviNciBL3
Why do Canadian immigrants have to swear an oath to the British Queen?
I think you'd find that Canadians would have little appetite for an abusive monarch lol.. they know that and this is why they assume a ceremonial role.. Man you are way more worried about this than we are - I don't know how you sleep at night..Btw do you have something against the Commonwealth?
Quote:
Originally Posted by drknoble
There's nothing more unstable and fragile than a government that must hope that the unelected monarch doesn't use and abuse the unchecked executive powers that they legally have ever right to use.
The last I looked Canada, Australia, UK and New Zealand were great allies of the United States lol.. perhaps you'd prefer such close friends as Iraq or North Korea...
Quote:
Originally Posted by drknoble
New Zealand doesn't even have a senate, so what exactly are you comparing to the US senate? Further more, the US Senate was elected, the New Zealand Head of state was not. Your argument makes no sense at all, try again next time.
Ok, but doesn't the Queen have the legal ability to block the amendment against her?
In theory, yes. In practice, it wouldn't happen. I won't go into the specifics (which could take a few semester-long law school classes in constitutional law and history to explain), but I will say that if I recall my own such classes correctly, it has been about 300 years since any British monarch has vetoed any legislation properly passed by the Commons and the House of Lords. (Queen Anne, I believe, was the last monarch to do so.) That's 300 years of non-vetoing precedent, and constitutional precedent carries a lot of weight in the Westminster system.
Very generally speaking, what would happen is that if Parliament (where the Commons is elected by the people) passed the amendment legislation, and enough provinces with enough population passed the amendment legislation (again, provincial legislatures are elected by the people), then the Queen, through the G-G, would have no choice but to agree to the amendment. If it's what the people want, as evidenced by their democratically-elected representatives, then that's what she will do for them.
Or, to put it in a way that may make more sense to an American familiar with the preamble to the US Constitution, the Queen does what "we the people" want. She works for us, in other words; not the other way around.
I know that understanding this is difficult for somebody living in a country where the Constitution is one single document, but you'll have to trust me on this: Canada's Constitution is some documents, some unwritten yet unbreakable precedents, and some traditions that come down to us through hundreds of years of British parliamentary history. I've seen the US Constitution in the National Archives in Washington DC; you could not similarly put the Canadian Constitution on display. Because while you could put the paper documents on display (heck, I have a copy of the Constitution documents in my office; they are bound and in book form), you cannot put a tradition or a precedent under glass in a museum. As I said above, constitutional precedent carries a lot of weight in the Westminster system.
And besides, the Queen gets no benefit from being Queen of Canada. We don't pay her anything: we don't pay "tributes," nor do our taxes go to her upkeep. Her expenses and her pay are paid for by the people of the UK, not Canada. Oh, we may spend money on logistics and security when she visits, but we do the same for any visiting head of state. At any rate, if the people of Canada ask her to stop being Queen of Canada, she's out nothing. If anything, she better off--her schedule is freer.
Again though, to fully explain the intricacies of our Constitution and its history is beyond what I'm willing to do here. Still, you asked a question, and I answered it.
Why do Canadian immigrants have to swear an oath to the British Queen?
Because thats the way it is,its such a non issue that nobody cares except for our op and a few assorted oddballs in the op's link ,If the idea is to hop aboard the wayback machine and garner some amusement debating irrelevancies here's some more fun facts some may find more amusing than dragging up the old monarchy dead horse. Weird American Laws
Reading some of these idiotic laws in the link i can see why Americans like our op are into dragging up such trivia as Canada's history with the monarchy, seems they are really into obscure stuff, turns em on i guess ..
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Only thing remaining is to stick a fork in it. 
,its such a non issue that nobody cares except for our op and a few assorted oddballs in the op's link ,If the idea is to hop aboard the wayback machine and garner some amusement debating irrelevancies here's some more fun facts some may find more amusing than dragging up the old monarchy dead horse.
