Stephen Fry touched on this in his book/miniseries on the US and made a pretty interesting observation: in his opinion, the flag takes the place in Americans' m

Stephen Fry touched on this in his book/miniseries on the US and made a pretty interesting observation: in his opinion, the flag takes the place in Americans' minds that is occupied by a royal family in other countries. The problem is that a flag can't ask a chief of government to justify his policies in the same way a monarch with decades of experience can. As an American, I can see how having a head of state with decades of experience who's nominally higher than the chief of government, but with no formal power might help check corrupting influences and promote accountability. Of course, it's rife with problems of its own.