<bm2617@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:500ab8b9-0e1e-4293-bf0c-2a2b35a2c7b7@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Greetings and salutations.
>
> In the recent "US loses the revolution" thread, Tenner mentioned Tom
> Fleming's views on the probable consequences, which included this line
>
> "With their wonderful combination of hypocrisy and
> arrogance, the King's men would have contined to assure themselves
> that
> "British liberty" was prospering at home among the 250,000
> enfranchised
> voters out of a population of 8 million."
>
> But, given the fact that Great Britain was in the middle of the
> industrial revolution, and probably the grandest expansion of wealth
> in history to that point, how sustainable is that narrow a franchise?
>
> The middle cl***** are going to be expanding, and with them, the % of
> people with political power purchasing wealth. On the other hand, we
> have a rapidly expanding industrial workforce, which even in the
> absence of the French revolution and Karl Marx, is probably going to
> find literate people to find theoretical justifications for their
> discontent. (Peasant rebellions rarely have gone anywhere, but the
> urban proletariat has a better idea of where you live.)
>
> So, proposed: the narrow oligarchy, even in the absence of the example
> of a successful American revolution [1], is either going to expand
> over the next century in an evolutionary manner as OTL, if perhaps a
> bit slower, or there's going to be a messy explosion at some point. On
> our TL the British ruling cl***** managed the dilution of their power
> very well indeed: would they have been clumsier and less willing to
> compromise if they had been victorious over the first great democratic
> revolution?
The English had their revolution and cut the head off the king in 1649.
After a decade of various types of government, ranging from parliamentary
to military dictator****p they decided to have a king back, but with
reduced
powers for the king.
After this period there was a marked dislike for revolutions.
Between 1688 and 1832 (the date of the Great Reform Act) England/The
UK/Great Britain went through a series of major constitutional changes
that
reduced the level of democracy within society
But you're going to need some sort of major reason for the people to rise
up
against the government because the 'folk memory' of the Civil War was,
and
still is, pretty strong.
--
William Black
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.
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