As President Barack Obama gave his second inaugural address today, Jan. 21, thousands of Americans turned out to watch the festivities in Washington, D.C. Even more tuned in to watch the pageantry live on television or the Internet.
A tradition that dates back to George Washington’s first swearing-in on April 30, 1789, the Presidential Inauguration has become bigger, better and much, much more costly through the years.
The first few inaugurations were rather short affairs that didn’t include gala balls. Washington, in fact, only spoke 135 words in his second inaugural address, according to the U.S. Senate’s website. Balls weren’t added to the mix until James Madison’s 1809 swearing-in. Those festivities only cost attendees $4 each for tickets.
Flash forward to 2013 and the exact costs of the Inauguration are hard to track.
ABC reports the 2009 festivities cost about $170 million. That news agency openly admits that tracking this year’s expenses is much harder. In a story published today, the agency said a total of $13.637 million had been appropriated so far, “but it will no doubt be a much larger price tag when everything is accounted for.”
CBS reports that taxpayers are on the hook for the swearing-in costs, security and the parade. Private donors were sought out to cover the costs of the balls.
Here’s what we want to know from you, Tampa Bay: Do you think the costs are justified because the inauguration is a time-honored American tradition? Or, do you think the festivities should be scaled back in light of America’s $16 trillion federal debt? Did you watch the festivities? What did you think? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
And as to feeding and caring for the poor, the poor of America shouldn't need to depend upon donations; they should depend upon their fellow Americans in this greatly blessed nation to help them. We are a better nation than India or China or any others who leave the most destitute to fend for themselves. Justice matters. Equity matters. Sharing our burdens and our blessings matters. America is a great and powerful nation that should never abandon the least of our brethren. "We the People" is not just a logan; it is an inherent part of our great heritage.
"And Bezmenov told about as well, that people indoctrinated with Marxism would accept no facts, evidences, proofs." Hard to see what isn't brought to a conversation, I have asked multiple times for your facts and data and your replay as been "well you can't see it". Maybe I'm not the one who is color blind. I openly have said the system is flawed multiple times through multiple threads on this site. But you can't get off Socialism, to see any other outcome. So Have a wonderful day.
Are you referring to the US Postal Service? Need to blame Congress for not re-organizing that doomed organization. Other than that, a person cannot collect Unemployeement for more than 2 years, Without gaining employment for at least a year before they reapply. You would have to be specific if you are referring to any other form of government assistance.
If he was reponding to this statement: "I see no reason for an able body American to be on public assistance for more 4 years, yet, here in St.Pete, I know of 7 families that have been collecting tax dollars for more then 20 years! " Wouldn't he still be at least half right, because St. Pete is in the state of Florida? I know the lifetime portion is incorrect.
The division has been growing since the "Contract with America" in 1998. Both parties have been doing it. Don't blame one side without blaming the other. If they divide us on issues that don't matter, then it is easier for them to do things that take more of our liberties away. Not just Obama or Bush, it has been slowly happening much longer than that. The two parties are two sides of the same coin. Why do you think they both agree to the monetary policy that has been reducing the value of the dollar since 2002?
First, the Postal Service was a joke, I'm apologize for not pointing that out. As far as the Welfare system which has been in place since the late 1800's isn't Obama's fault. People milking the Welfare system isn't any administrations fault, if they have been doing it for 20 years. Seems to be the fault of both parties, and the entitlement politics you speak of is with both parties. Neither of the two parties want to fix the issues, just create more issues. Welfare is another government organization that does need restructuring (no where close to the worst or even in the top 100). Like many government organizations. Strangely enough, a great example is the Postal Service, we keep dumping more bad money into an organization that needs to be restructured. But Congress doesn't want to make the hard decisions needed to restructure and save billions of tax payer dollars. The average postal delivery person makes approximately $20,000 than you average college graduate. As far as a situation where I know how government is fleecing Americans. Federal Government Contractor with many lobbyst friends. I'm quite aware how the organization is run, not by two states but on a national scale.
I agree we are a society are becoming less generous. I don't think that the assualt on Christianity is as much through the government, as much as business sector. Christmas doesn't sell as much as it used to, partly because the expanded diversity of other religions in our nation. Partly because we had an administration that pushed Christian values as a reason for policy. As of 2010 76.8% of the American Population calmed to be Christian. So it as a whole isn't being stompped out. Now we are seeing an increase in taxation, because we as a country need it. We restoring taxes to the pre 2002 levels, which is good for the country as a whole. Reagan was smart to increase taxes, and Bush/Clinton were smart to keep them in. Bush shouldn't have taken them out, and Obama should have put them back in (Congress gets credit for getting them back in). The Freedom of Religion is a core believe of this country, but not Freedom from Religion. Most of our founding fathers were not Christians (John Adams was). Our founding documents are states of a society, not based on religion. Only mention of Lord is in the proper statement of the date. But we did believe in protecting our brother as you stated. It was solidarity as a nation, which we haven't had in at least 15 years. FYI... Hilter bad example of removing the Bible, he used the Bible to show the evility of the Jews. They did burn books on Liberalism, American, Jewish Authors, and more.
If they just made an ongoing thread called > Right vs. Left Shoot out, Ream em' a new one!!! it would cover the territory
When they do it we call it fascism, When we do it we call it social Democracy. When they do it we call it communism, When we do it we call it social security. When they do it we call it terrorism, When we do it we call it collateral damage. When they do it we call it death camps, When we do it we call it "re-education camps". When they do it we call it aggression, When we do it we call it "defense". When they do it we call it weapons proliferation, When we do it we call it "foreign aid". When they do it we call it slavery, When we do it we call it banking. When they do it we call it currency manipulation, When we do it we call it "quantitative easing". When they do it we call it corporatism/corporate fascism/socialism, but when we do it we call it "capitalism", "bailouts", "too big to fail". I could go on.