I don’t like the idea of shutting government and the markets down for the funeral of a late president. I think it makes the presidency into royalty, rather just the head of the administrative office of the state.

The presidency is a job like every other. The president has an important role as chief executive of the nation, but so do many other CEOs. While I guess it’s not unusual for an ordinary business to close at the loss of a long-term executive, I think it’s a bit excessive to close down all of government for the day. Even with a business closes to honor a lost executive there is no wall to wall television coverage, it’s essentially a private observation for fellow employees.

Maybe closing down the White House for a day when the sitting president dies makes sense for the employees to mourn the loss of somebody known personally, but I find it hard to justify closing the post office down for a president who has been out of office for twenty five years now.

I just don’t like thinking about the government as royalty. The president isn’t the king, he’s an executive temporarily hired by the voters to do a job competently for 4 – 8 years. Not a cultural phenomenon or a rock star, just an ordinary man tasked in administrating the government.

Government is a necessary evil we all live under, willingly or else-wise. It’s may be a necessity but hardly something that I believe we should celebrate or say that the men who do its bidding are particularly noble or good. They have a job to do and if we don’t like their job performance we can vote them out.