THIS Is The Land Of The Free

Peter Hitchens writes:

The Land of the Free is a lot less free than Britain's ancient monarchy. There is nothing like a dive into American politics to remind you that even the most successful republic in human history has its drawbacks.

Now, I am anything but anti-American. I loved living here in the States, I think the US Bill of Rights is a wonderful thing and wish ours was as good. I think Americans have much to teach us about manners. I am in awe of their optimism and their sheer competence, I envy their navy, and Lou Mitchell's in Chicago cooks the best breakfast in the world.

But having a politician as your head of state is a big mistake.

I am always baffled by British republicans who seem to assume that getting rid of the Crown will automatically make us more free. They should pay more attention.

It is not just that all American politicians are tainted by sordid scrambles for money.

It is not just that these liberated folk are so keen on dynasties - if Hillary Clinton wins in November, and holds on in 2012, the country will have been run by just two families, the Bushes and the Clintons, continuously for 24 years. Maybe Chelsea Clinton can take over next.

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times rightly jokes that this sort of thing is rather Pakistani.

Worse is the fact that there isn't all that much freedom to be against the government.

America has no Leader of the Opposition, no President's Question Time in Congress.

Critics of the Iraq War have had a much harder time in the US than they did in Britain - because the President is an elected king, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the human symbol of the nation.

To argue that he is wrong about a war, or to laugh at him, is actually quite dangerous in certain places.

This is not because people agree with George W. Bush but because they see him through a haze of loyalty. It has been far easier for us to mock the ridiculous Blair creature.

A disturbing and peculiar side-effect of this is that British anti-war conservatives, such as me, have to be careful what they say about Mr Blair in the US.

Hard-hat workers and truckers, normally reliable Right-wingers, can turn pretty nasty if I dare to sneer at Blair over here, though in other circumstances, they would despise him as a weedy liberal.

He is included in the magic circle of loyalty that protects the president and all his friends.

I might add that if it hadn't been for the Bill of Rights - drawn up by people who knew that you should never trust politicians - America would now be well on the way to tyranny, thanks to measures worse by some way than those enacted by New Labour.

The hard, unbreakable clauses protecting free speech and jury trial, and guaranteeing freedom from arbitrary arrest, stood in the way of the paranoid surveillance society that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney sought to create after the 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington.

The international disgrace at Guantanamo Bay, the disgusting "renditions" of suspects to Arab torture chambers, show what these people are capable of when there are no rules to stop them.

In Britain, I can be loyal to crown and country and still despise my government. In fact, it's often my duty. More important, so can soldiers, police officers and civil servants.

Get rid of the Monarchy and you will get rid of a guardian of liberty.