Shameful Bowing Before the Crown

"The people who wrote the American Constitution were the most radical people on the planet," says Craig Nelson, author of "Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations," a biography of the most important anti-monarchist of the Revolution. "Paine was trying to undo people's loyalty to the crown. Today, most Americans are taught that King George was a mean guy, not that ours was a revolution against monarchy and inherited aristocracy."

Both left and right in this country have embraced the symbol of Tom Paine. His stirring assertion of the value of ordinary people -- "one honest man," he wrote, is of more worth "than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived" -- remains at the heart of our self-image as Americans.

But in a society increasingly divided by money and access to power, in a country that places more value in stability than in Jefferson's belief that "a little rebellion now and then is a good thing," the visit of a queen becomes one more chance to celebrate celebrity.

In Britain, our attitude toward the royal visit strikes many as odd. The Guardian newspaper, wondering how the queen got "so hot stateside," blames it on " 'The Queen' Effect," actress Helen Mirren's sympathetic portrayal of Elizabeth in last year's movie. "America now believes that the Queen is a graceful, complex, dignified but still very human monarch with an admirable devotion to family and duty, instead of a little old lady who likes horses and never says anything much," writes Tim Dowling.

"The idea that anybody should bow to anybody is beyond me," says Graham Smith, campaign manager for Republic, a British political group that pushes to replace the monarchy with an elected head of state. "Americans wouldn't bow to George Bush. But they think that's what people do over here."

Smith says the democracy inherent in the digital revolution -- electronic voting, blogs, the ability to use the Internet to foil powerful governments -- has finally lifted the taboo against discussing elimination of the British crown. The American reverence for the queen, he says, is nothing more than "untainted celebrity worship," a quest for a fairy tale to believe in.

It is a dangerous fairy tale, fomented by celebrity-crazed media companies (700 news credentials were issued for the queen's visit) and accepted all too readily by people who should know better. Let the queen play at the Kentucky Derby; the rest of us should read Tom Paine.

E-mail:marcfisher@washpost.com