1. Bureaucracy: Dense, Layered, and Sometimes Paralyzing

  • Belgium is infamous for its labyrinthine bureaucracy, partially due to its deep federalism (Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels all have distinct governments), linguistic divisions, and a complex system of consensus politics.
  • America also operates with multiple layers of government—federal, state, county, and city—with agencies often overlapping and conflicting. The deep administrative state (sometimes derided as the “deep state”) reflects a bureaucracy that often runs independently of elected officials.

➡️ In both countries, bureaucratic inertia can rival or even overpower elected leadership.

2. Admiration for Monarchy and Strong Symbolic Leadership

  • Belgium, though a constitutional monarchy, maintains a deep respect for the royal family. The King plays a unifying symbolic role in a divided nation.
  • America, despite its anti-monarchist founding, shows a surprising cultural longing for “royal-like” figures:
    • The presidency is often treated with a level of reverence that borders on monarchical.
    • First Ladies and political dynasties (Kennedy, Bush, Clinton) are treated like royalty in media.
    • The inaugural ceremonies, motorcades, and formal trappings have a distinctly imperial flair.

➡️ Americans often express disdain for monarchy, yet they exhibit similar psychological patterns—elevating leaders, fetishizing legacy, and expecting quasi-royal decorum.

3. Cultural Fragmentation and Soft Authoritarianism

  • Belgium is split linguistically and regionally but held together by technocratic and elite compromise, often brokered behind closed doors.
  • America is increasingly polarized, but still bound by elite consensus in media, finance, and bureaucracy—despite electoral swings.

➡️ Both countries function through elite management more than grassroots empowerment.

4. Stability Through Dysfunction

  • Belgium went 589 days without a federal government (2010–2011), yet the state functioned relatively smoothly due to a strong administrative apparatus.
  • The U.S. often suffers from government shutdowns, congressional gridlock, or even contested elections—yet daily life carries on due to the depth of its bureaucratic state.

➡️ In both systems, bureaucracy is the real continuity power—even when democratic processes falter.

🧠 Summary Thought

While America has little in common with the Visegrád states (which are post-Soviet, more ethnically homogeneous, and often openly skeptical of liberal globalism), it shares with Belgium:

  • A love-hate relationship with technocratic elites
  • Layers of government that make quick reform difficult
  • Symbolic reverence for leadership akin to monarchic nostalgia
  • A bureaucratic class that ensures continuity, for better or worse

So yes—America as a “Republic that dreams of monarchy”, much like Belgium, is an oddly accurate analogy.