What you people don't understand is that an abdication before the flight of the royal family simply doesn't make any sense. This is not the same situation as, for instance, in Russia in 1917, where the tsar himself personally and the institution of monarchy were held responsible for the difficulties the country was experiencing. Abdication was advocated by an increasing number of important political and military leaders. In France the situation was completely different because there wasn't any strong movement in favor of abdication or of abolition of the monarchy. The early revolution was about reforming outdated laws and creating a representative, constitutional monarchy. The king suddenly stepping down on his own, without anybody actively requesting him to do so is not only something Louis XVI being who he was would never do, it is simply something extremely weird, like if you were asking "what if" Lenin took a habit of strolling on the Red Square naked or "what if" Hitler and the entire Nazi leadership suddenly decided to shoot themselves on Sep.1st, 1939. Before Varennes, abdication was not an option in the mind of anybody and after Varennes it would come to late to change anything.
