I have always been a staunch republican, as if being anti-monarchy was the natural default position of a Wild Colonial Boy. I thought that Australia’s growth as a nation has been stunted by our lingering attachment to the British monarchy.
But when King Charles of England entered the US Congress last week, it was as if Merlin had entered the Court of King Arthur. All the confected enmity between Republican and Democrat melted away, and the US Congress became the Knights of the Round Table, equal among equals in a rousing display of bi-partisanship. The Dark Sorcerer Trump, who has held the Congress captive under his dark spell by demonising the Democrats, was warm and deferential.
King Charles talked freely on all the taboo subject banned by the Dark Sorcerer. The importance of preserving nature, the existential threat of climate change, the danger of emerging tyrants and the importance of defending democracy. Members of Congress rose to their feet and applauded his every statement. All the bitter projections and polarization between Republican and Democrat just melted away and for a while they were all Americans together, in service to the people.
Merlin cast his spell over King Arthur’s Court, and who knows, maybe gave Congress a glimpse of a world beyond the bitterness and acrimony that has too long divided them.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
