I wasn't going to post anything about Ronald Reagan's funeral, but I can't resist a snipe at shutting down the government for a day in his honor. Aren't Republicans supposed to be against fraud, abuse and waste? It seems like waste to me. No mail gets delivered today but we still pay the postal workers.
It seems we are in the grip of the Imperial Presidency. Back in the days of Washington and Lincoln, the President was a servant of the people. Now he's a media celebrity who rules us all. This shutdown is now a custom. They even did it for Nixon in 1994. When the President visits Seattle, they shut down the freeway so his motorcade can tool along unimpeded - and the heck with how much people are inconvenienced.
I miss Jerry Brown. When he was Governor of California, he lived in a modest apartment and drove a Plymouth to work.
posted by Richard @ 6/11/2004
2 Comments:
The shut down honors the office as well as the man.
There was a time in this country when there was honor towards the office of the President, whether you agreed with him or not. This is why there is a national day of mourning when an ex-president dies and THREE when a sitting president dies in office. It is because the office represents this land, and by extension the people. It's the only nationally elected office, so unlike your Senator, governor, or representative, it is the one that voters from Maine to Hawaii voted on together - as one people in a democracy.
You, on the other hand, are so caught up in yourself that a day without mail (the horror!) or traffic conjestion (it always flows SO well in Seattle) that you go around shouting IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY when you have a few inconveniences.
The epitaph on Thomas Jefferson's tombstone (which he wrote) doesn't even mention that he was President of the United States. When King George III died, you can bet they shut down the government offices in London for the funeral. The way the President is treated today is very different from what the founding fathers thought was right.
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