I don’t care how much “real” power they have. If you actually believe in a meritocracy how can you defend someone getting a job because of their lineage, attending real political events and ceremonies and influencing policies that way? And let’s not forget that in many cases, they ACTUALLY have institutional powers they just don’t use because they don’t have to, the institutions serve their interests all the same.
Sorry for the pointless rant. It just happens way too often.
The only thing I respect about the current Austrian society is that they fully eliminated royalty and nobility and made the titles illegal.
Germans, Dutch, British, et al prance around acting like they’re democracies when they’re feudal holdover states. They’re not even liberal democracies imho. South America and parts of Africa are much more advanced in that regard, without even mentioning proletarian democracies.