I have been openly critical of the Thai monarchy. Heck, am critical of all monarchies, and I am fortunate to live in a country that does not support a monarchy.

However, I have previously posted about the Thai monarchy, and it was not flattering, here and here.

Given that people who don’t agree with the monarchy get 43-year prison sentences, I had better be careful and not accidentally travel to Thailand and get arrested. I am not sure I want to see the inside of a Thai prison.

It makes me wonder about the solidity of the values of the monarchies and the characters of the monarchs themselves when they can’t handle public criticism and are so afraid of it that they have to look dissenters up for life.

It does not buy my respect.

This makes me doubly grateful that I live in the United States, a democratic republic, where opposition to the leadership is settled by going to the ballot box, a system recently tested to its foundations, and a system worthy of protecting.

My freedom to write this without getting prosecuted depends on it.