{"id":11392,"date":"2018-09-06T14:13:39","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T21:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=11392"},"modified":"2018-09-06T14:13:39","modified_gmt":"2018-09-06T21:13:39","slug":"when-funerals-become-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/when-funerals-become-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"When Funerals Become Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"wpsdcp-drop-cap-default\">U<\/span>sing funerals for political purposes has a long, but not distinguished, tradition. In 44 B.C. eulogist Mark Antony claimed to Roman mourners that he came to bury Caesar. But his speech created a frenzy and ended up ensuring a death warrant for the once \u201chonorable\u201d Brutus.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, aside from the commemoration of the deceased, Americans mostly have seen funerals as solemn reminders of how frail and transitory life is for all of us, and how our shared fates should unite even the bitterest of enemies.<\/p>\n<p>Sixteen years ago, on the eve of the 2002 midterm election, and at a time when the United States was beginning to divide over the Afghanistan intervention and a looming Iraq war, Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) tragically died in a plane crash.<\/p>\n<p>Wellstone\u2019s Minnesota funeral was meant to be a commemoration of a life of public servant well lived. But the funeral service was soon hijacked by partisan speakers and ended up a loud and often grating political pep rally.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amgreatness.com\/2018\/09\/06\/when-funerals-become-politics\/\">Read the full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness Using funerals for political purposes has a long, but not distinguished, tradition. In 44 B.C. eulogist Mark Antony claimed to Roman mourners that he came to bury Caesar. But his speech created a frenzy and ended up ensuring a death warrant for the once \u201chonorable\u201d Brutus. In contrast, aside [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1198,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-2XK","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11389,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/res-ipsa-loquitur\/","url_meta":{"origin":11392,"position":0},"title":"Res Ipsa Loquitur","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Donald Trump in his Twitter storms apparently has no idea that he is winning. The Brett Kavanaugh opening hearing turned into a progressive circus, with shouting would-be Democratic presidential candidates vying with screaming protesters to see who could be the most obnoxious. Ossified senior\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Donald Trump&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Donald Trump","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/donald-trump\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11956,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/with-the-old-breed\/","url_meta":{"origin":11392,"position":1},"title":"With The Old Breed","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Claremont Review of Books n the world of ancient Greece and Rome, collective reverence for the war dead helped explain why hoplites and legionaries fought so fiercely. The great themes of classical literature are often those of battlefield commemoration. Pericles\u2019 majestic Funeral Oration, the lyric poet\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5099,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/questions-making-sense-of-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":11392,"position":2},"title":"Questions: Making Sense of the World","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 15, 2002","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online One of the advantages of living in relative isolation on a farm is the opportunity to ponder idle questions when there are few experts around to give the proper answers. I list in no particular order a sampling of them that arose last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;March 2002&quot;","block_context":{"text":"March 2002","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2002\/march-2002\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2977,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/hope-he-can-change\/","url_meta":{"origin":11392,"position":3},"title":"Hope He Can Change","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media An Obamaplosion I get loads of quasi-hate mail about questioning Obama\u2019s candidacy and governance. But I am worried, not about Obama, or the politics of governance, but about the nation itself. The media has forsaken us. But after only two weeks we are in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;February 2009&quot;","block_context":{"text":"February 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/february-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5096,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/palestine-pretense-and-israel-reality\/","url_meta":{"origin":11392,"position":4},"title":"Palestine Pretense and Israel Reality","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 18, 2002","format":false,"excerpt":"What the world knows, but can't say, to be true\/ by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online A\u00a0common theme throughout classical literature is the role of pretext (prophasis) contrasted with the actual cause of complaint (aitia) \u2014 the great divide between what aggrieved people say publicly and what they feel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;March 2002&quot;","block_context":{"text":"March 2002","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2002\/march-2002\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4621,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/on-loathing-bush\/","url_meta":{"origin":11392,"position":5},"title":"On Loathing Bush","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 16, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"It's not about what he does. by Victor Davis Hanson For now Americans seem to be split 50-50 over the reelection of George W. Bush. Such a hotly contested election is hardly new. We saw races just as close in 1960, 1968, and 1976. Had Ross Perot not run in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;August 2004&quot;","block_context":{"text":"August 2004","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2004\/august-2004\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11393,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11392\/revisions\/11393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}