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Keller @ Large: Congratulations! (Sort Of)

BOSTON (CBS) - My congratulations go out to Prince William of Britain and his bride-to-be, Kate Middleton, on the announcement of their engagement.

They are an attractive couple who've been dating for eight years, so chances are the match will last. And their forthcoming wedding will certainly provide a global economic boost. There's a lot of money to be made peddling royal knick-knacks, it seems, so let the spending begin!

But while it's swell to see a nice couple make it official, I have to say I can't get too excited about this or anything having to do with royalty.

Like most Americans, I don't even like the concept of royalty. England is one of thirty countries to have a royal family; Malaysia has nine different ones all by itself.

But not here. We rejected royalty 334 years ago and show no sign of regretting the decision.

Yes, we have rich people here, some of whom insist on acting like they're royalty.

We have prominent families like the Kennedys and the Bushes with some of the trappings of royalty.

We have pretend pop-culture royalty, like LeBron "King" James, and sometimes we apply royal titles to people we really admire, like Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul.

Then again, royal names can be derogatory in our culture, like the tyrannical hotel kingpin Leona Helmsley, who was known as the Queen of Mean.

But the truth is we just don't tolerate true royalty the way so many other cultures do.

The British Royal family never took the kind of heat that the Kennedys and the Bushes have taken over the years.

This is America, a nation of castoffs and refugees, a place where class constraints are made to be broken and stature is earned, not inherited.

Sorry, Will and Kate, that's the way we like it.

But that doesn't mean we don't wish you well.

Put me down right now for one of those commemorative royal wedding coins.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

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