Inaugural ceremony attacked... again

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Inaugural Excess
By Bernard Ries, Washington Post

As is usual, the left decries private individuals enjoying the right to decide how to spend their hard earned cash. Evidently Bernard Ries believes there is a better use for cash that doesn't belong to him.

Issue at hand? The Inaugural, of course.

Bernard, evidently not skilled at research nor listening, drives home an erroneous $40 mil number as the extravagant costs for American's party when swearing in the new Commander in Chief.

What he does not tell the unsuspecting reader is that $28 mil of that is from private donations, and $12 mil is taxpayer cash. Nor does he mention that anyone in the country who desires to attend the inaugural ceremonies are welcomed. It is an open invitation.

But beyond his inability to grasp the numbers is Ries' insidious belief that if we do not spend every available penny on some heart-wretching social cause, we are a nation of souls with misguided priorities.

What gives me pause is the decision to spend some $40 million-plus at this moment in history. When I first began mulling over this expenditure, I thought it quite unseemly that, at a time when so many Americans and countless Iraqis have been and will be killed and maimed, we should be mounting a spectacle said to celebrate our troops, replete with nine official balls, many unofficial affairs, a youth concert, a parade, a fireworks display, etc. (and, at the Ritz-Carlton, white chocolate cowboy boots). But now, with the appalling misery in Southeast Asia added to the scene, it seems even more obvious that an extravaganza is wholly inappropriate.

Inappropriate perhaps for Mr. Ries. But a journalist has no business presuming what is appropriate or not for the rest of us. In light of his own opinions, I do hope he elects to stay home and not feel prompted to attend, indulge and give us more of his nonsense as a review.

When times get tough for Americans, moments of pride and celebratory events are a release from the day to day battering we get from Ries and ilk, telling us how insensitive we are, how unloved and unrespected we are by the world community, and how the world is going to hell and a handbag.

In fact, when one looks back at the war days when supplies were rationed and cash was short, movies, dances and other festive events were huge gatherings for diversion from daily worries. It never occured to even the "greatest generation" to spend each and every moment wringing their hands in despair in fear of offending the world with a moment of entertainment and joviality.

Then again, that was before we were a nation of Prozac and other mood altering drugs, designed to deaden emotional responses.

If this is the way Mr. Ries lives daily... not spending any excess cash on pleasure for himself or family... then I do feel sympathy. But that's a personal choice. Take your cash and spend it as you wish, Mr. Ries. But take care before you judge that the rest of us find diversionary pleasures "inappropriate".