On Thu, Jun 01, 2006 at 09:59:35AM -0500 or thereabouts, Ron Johnson wrote: <snip> > Given your .au address, I presumed you are Australian. The > Australian Head of State is ... Elizabeth II. As she is for the rest of the Commonwealth, but in name only. She is obligated to follow the instructions of the individual commonwealth elected heads of government. Heck even some republics have a figure head of state, France for example has a Prime Minister and a President. If memory serves, the Prime Minister is the defacto head of state, but the president has the power. It might be the other way around, but you get the idea, this is hardly a new concept, except probably to Americans. ;) My country Canada, created our own Constitution separate from the British North America Act, in the early 80's. The Queen had to come over to sign the declaration, at the request of the Canadian Government. However, she wasn't the deal maker, and never is. She's still our figurehead head of state, represented by the Governor General whom is appointed by the Canadian Prime Minister, and which is rubber stamped by the reining monarch, as she must obey. This all goes back to the English inception of the Parliamentary system, where the monarch was given a figurehead role and removed from power. BTW even the U.S. has a commonwealth state -- Massachusetts, which still refers to the Governor as "his excellency" a holdover from the British tradition when it was the major of the 13 colonies, and the Governor, was the Governor General, representative of the Queen of England. -- Regards Stephen +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ There is a great discovery still to be made in Literature: that of paying literary men by the quantity they do NOT write. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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