Last night I caught a bit of the Queen’s Speech from the UK on CSPAN. This is an interesting tradition. It’s a bit like the State of the Union, except with more pomp and circumstance. But you’ve got the Queen, who’s a non-partisan figure, sitting up there reading what’s basically a partisan political speech written by the Prime Minister and his staff all about how “my government” is committed to doing this and that.
But one thing that the Queen told me Gordon Brown wanted to do was reform the House of Lords to create a second branch of parliament with “real democratic legitimacy.” Sounds like a bad idea to me. Pretty much the best thing about the House of Lords is that its complete and utter lack of democratic legitimacy has made it possible over the years to strip it of all its legislative powers. Now the U.K. has a de facto unicameral regime and I think it’s working just fine. Bicameralism arises for some understandable historical reasons—the legacy of aristocracy in the U.K., an 18th century political compromise in the U.S.—but in this case it looks a lot like a solution in search of a problem. Maybe Brown should ask Barack Obama about some of the hassles involved in an upper house with actual power. Watch what you wish for!
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