Mourning of Queen Elizabeth in England betrays a singular lack of understanding of monarchy’s regressive effect on world history.

The Brits go through a 10- day ritual involving incredible pomp along with exaggerated orations about the importance of the monarchy to the British people. The fact that England celebrates a national holiday on the day of her funeral reflects a very ancient and very primitive tradition about kingship.

According to this view, the monarch’s life is the most important life in the nation, as is the monarch’s death. No matter that a given country hosts religious saints, Pulitzer-prize winning authors, incredible humanists, scientists, or teachers, all of these rate little compared to the stoic, glammed-out sovereign of the nation. Everyone else is reduced to a “subject.”

Anciently, monarchs were so self-important they celebrated their accession to power every year on the anniversary of their coronation with a lovely forced holiday memorial to themselves.

Contrast this with the tradition of democracy, where we annually celebrate freedom (Fourth of July) or constitutional law (Sept. 17) rather than heaven-sent dynasties of inbred hyper-wealthy individuals.

KIMBALL SHINKOSKEY

Woods Cross, Utah