Inauguration Day thoughts…
In terms of their separation from the public and the difference between their lives and that of a commoner, the American president seems more like a king than a citizen.
Surely there was an even wider disparity in the 18th-century days of monarchy, right? Wrong, says Catherine the Great (Massie):
No serious barriers were placed between the imperial family and the public; all parks in the capital and the nearby countryside were open to all who were “decently dressed.” This included the park at Tsarskoe Selo. One day, Catherine was seated on a bench with her favorite personal maid after their early morning walk. A man passed by, glanced briefly at the two elderly women, and, failing to recognize the empress, walked on, whistling. The maid was indignant, but Catherine merely remarked, “What do you expect, Maria Savichna? Twenty years ago this would not have happened. We have grown old. It is our fault.”
How about in the old days here in the U.S.? Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People:
The president-elect [Thomas Jefferson] walked from his boardinghouse to the newly constructed Capitol as his predecessor, John Adams, slipped out of town. But the occasion was nevertheless momentous: power transferred peacefully from one political party to another for the first time in the history of the young United States. Jefferson had work to do. He was committed to cutting taxes, trimming the military, and scaling down government, but even as he favored a contraction of federal power, he was also committed to expanding opportunities for the country’s independent farmers.
Our own Congresswoman, Katherine Clark, won’t be attending the coronation (Boston Globe). She tweeted that “families in my district are fearful that the anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and divisive promises that drove the Trump campaign will become the policies affecting the health and safety of every American.” As she ran unopposed and “won re-election by default” (Ballotpedia), it is tough to know why she bothered to explain her decision to do something else today. Her constituents were surely not under the impression that she supported a Republican president. Was it to remind people that she is “pro-woman, pro-immigrant, and pro-Muslim”? Or that she is demonstrating her passion for inclusion (and against “divisiveness”) by boycotting an event where people who disagree with her will be present?
One writer I read remarked, about the assassination attempt on Louis XV of France, that he was an absolute ruler, but you could apparently walk right up to him without interference. (as contrasted with the incredible security apparatus that goes along with our leaders)
I can’t really see why you would object to your congresswoman’s decision to skip the inauguration. It’s not an important part of her job.
It’s pretty much just the US president, grand imperial leader of the free world. You bump into other heads of state out and about town. And they typically fly commercial.
Not only is it mostly just the POTUS, it’s also fairly recent. Even though he was no longer the President, Obama left the Inauguration right from the back of the Capitol in a giant helicopter and then flew in a private 747 to California. Apparently, after Eisenhower’s Inauguration, Truman took a regular train to Missouri. He shook hands with his Secret Service bodyguards and wished them goodbye.