Funerals and Pomp and Circumstance

When did American’s famous become royalty?  When did we start getting this overdose of Pomp?  Not just for funerals but for every single appearance of American Royalty.  Who defines the American Royals?

We have the Hollywood elite royals; we have the musical royals which seem to consist of rock stars, punk stars, country music stars and if I left a genre out, I apologize.  We have the television stars; TV news commentator stars, the TV news reporter stars, the cable network show stars and the network show stars.  But most of all we have the POLITICAL STARS,

The Political stars are treated the most like royalty. In truth they do need security, we live in a world that is not safe for them. But do they need all the pomp and circumstance?

I was thinking of this even before the death of John McCain which has created a week of mourning and would leave you to believe he was a God on earth.  It occurred to me as I sat in a church and watched the as the Vice President of the United States was introduced.  Mind you, he didn’t make the rules of how he was introduced.  The pomp has become the tradition.

When did it start?  I really don’t know but I can tell you the death of John McCain, a sitting senator for far longer than the founding fathers ever imagined, has really dinned in to me the pomp has gone too far.  I do not know who planned his funeral, but I decided to look up the funerals for some of the most popular presidents in my lifetime.

First was FDR.  I was in the 4th grade when he died, we were at war and he was the only president I had known.  His funeral did not take nearly as long as John McCain’s and was promptly carried out even though he died away from Washington. He had written his instructions and they were not nearly as elaborate.

John F. Kennedy was loved by many and he was assassinated.  His funeral while full of pomp was not overly done for an assassinated president. He was flown to Washington DC from Dallas immediately and all the funeral flourishes were in Washington within three days of his assassination.

His brother Robert Kennedy was assassinated while on a campaign running for president. Three days after falling prey to an assassin in California, Senator Robert F. Kennedy ws laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, just 30 yards from the grave of his assassinated older brother, President John F. Kennedy.
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It is possible the senators have more pompous funerals than presidents, although that may just be a sign of the times, the way the television news and the public respond.  The Ted Kennedy funeral, lying in state, etc.  was more prolonged than his brother the president, or his brother Robert who was also assassinated.

The Reagan funeral was when pomp really began to exceed the bounds of decency.  I know many will take umbrage at my saying this, but I believe a quicker funeral is better than one prolonged for seven days with a body flown back and forth across the continent. He was a beloved figure, and many wanted to show their mourning and respect.

I’ve done an extensive search online, there are more popular star funerals that are over the top, because of course, there are more pop stars than politicians and they have more admirers than politicians. They are also paying for their own funerals it is not coming out of the public coffers.

And that leads me to the POP FUNERALS.  I do not remember any pop star funerals being anything but funerals when I was a child. I was a young adult when Elvis Pressley died, that seems to be the first of the magnificent pop star funerals.  But even that was subdued when you consider the ones that have come after.

Michael Jackson was a beloved child star and a beleaguered adult star.  Most of his problems were brought on by his own actions and his notoriety.  That does not mean he was not extremely talented and a loving and beloved father and son.  His funeral is one that set the stage for Aretha Franklin’s which has been ongoing for most of this week.

Spectacular in life, spectacular in death pop stars or politicians in the end we are all humans with friends and relatives who truly grieve.

As for the pomp of the introduction of the president and vice-president, I will leave that research for another day.

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