Quick passing of laws

The argument

The argument for absolute monarchy here concerns decision speed and what follows from it. Absolute monarchies pass laws quickly. Authority is concentrated in a single person, so the distance between deciding that something should be done and it having legal force is short. There is no stage at which the decision must be renegotiated with anyone whose agreement is required for it to take effect. The contrast is with systems that distribute that authority. Other governments, like America's democratic republic system, must go through many steps to pass a law: drafting, committee scrutiny, debate and amendment in two chambers, reconciliation between them, and executive signature, with the possibility of failure at each stage. The process is slow by design, and crucially it carries no guarantee that the law will be passed at all. Effort expended on a measure may produce nothing, and a problem identified early may remain unaddressed years later. The benefit claimed for speed concerns the people governed rather than the government itself. The faster a law is passed, the quicker people will adjust to it. A rule that arrives promptly and definitively can be planned around; a rule that is proposed, debated, revised, and may or may not arrive leaves everyone affected uncertain about what the rules will be. Prolonged uncertainty carries costs of its own, borne by those who must make decisions while the question remains open. Because absolute monarchy allows the quick passing of laws, and quick passage lets people adjust sooner and with greater certainty, proponents conclude that it is the best system of government.

Premises

Counter-arguments

It is very foolish to have laws pass quickly through one ruler. One of the reasons the French Revolution happened was because the finances of the country was going towards people of higher class. The monarchs didn’t try to help peasants and the middle class. If the ruler is corrupt, they can pass laws that benefit themselves and not the civilians of the country.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Dictatorships pass laws quickly like monarchies. [Rejecting P3] Passing laws too quickly would harm the country. [Rejecting P3] An absolute monarchy only has one ruler, meaning they rely on themselves to make laws. If they aren’t knowledgeable about how to run a country or they are corrupt, the country falls.