The Gentlemen of Gilead
Imagine a country in which a group of patricians – all well-to-do white men – devise a system of rules of government to suit their own interests. They comprise an elite of less than 5% of the population but they consider themselves intellectually and morally superior to the 95% in every sense. They are particularly dismissive of women, who they regard as the property of men and incapable of thinking for themselves.
These men have all the power in this country and they intend to keep it. They create a set of “rules”, most of which are not written down. These rules are better described as understandings between men of their class as to what is done and not done by good chaps.
They justify everything they do by reference to God’s will – their god’s will. They have no interest in alternative or dissenting opinions: any deviation is regarded as heresy and treason and punished accordingly with extreme violence. They believe that barbaric punishments will act as a deterrent to anyone thinking of opposing them.
This is a description of Gilead, the dystopian version of America imagined by Margaret Attwood but it applies equally to England in the moment of the formation of the “British Constitution”. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 leading to the Bill of Rights in 1689 was the work of just such a group of self-entitled Commanders. For the next two hundred years they would subjugate everyone who did not obey them. They would not grant political power and freedom to women until 1918 and then only reluctantly.
The British political system today is a modified form of Gilead. It is still in the hands of Commanders who speak of God-ordained tradition as if it were the only form of legitimisation possible. They reward each other for conformity to the cause by handing out appointments to the House of Lords. The highest tier Commander is, as you know, the Anglo-Protestant God’s representative on Earth.
The Cavalier Constitution 