Politicized Funerals Are a New Low

Dealing with the death of two relatives so close together is hard. The first one to die fought prostate cancer for over 10 years. The second passed in about 2 months after discovering he had stage 4 lung cancer. Looking back at my over 50-year relationship with my wife’s brother Tom, I recall in the beginning it was ugly. It started out as a war because of the significant political differences between us. He was liberal and politically left, and I was conservative and to the right. The confrontations between us became so heated we stopped seeing each other.

Our wives were so angry with the both of us that they only wanted the arguments to stop. Each of us actually drew up a peace treaty specifying what we could never talk about and then exchanged the treaties. We combined them and both signed the resulting document. We never had a row again.

Through the ensuing years we had some political discussions, but if we could feel the tension rising, we changed the subject. As the years passed, we became great friends. One of my most memorable experiences with Tom was a golf trip to Pebble Beach.

Recently, I have been watching some of the news accounts of the two funerals over the weekend, Aretha Franklin and John McCain. I saw the callous disdain for life when the Left used the celebration of their two lives as a platform to criticize President Trump. As one listened to the comments made by some on the Right, like Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, he lauded the late Senator John McCain “as a cocky aviator, noble statesman, and paragon of patriotism, all rolled into one.”

However, The New Yorker magazine referred to McCain’s funeral with the statement, “John McCain's Funeral Was the Biggest Resistance Meeting Yet." During his funeral, one has to wonder was John McCain the focus, or was it two former presidents who were attacking President Trump? Think about the statement reported in TMZ by which former President Obama in his remarks referred to President Trump, not by name, but as "small,” “mean,” and “petty.” Surprisingly, Bush 43 on the Right also attacked President Trump, and like Obama, not by name.

Kristi Hamrick of Fox News said it best, “Funerals are a symphony celebrating a person lost to us – Let's please leave politics at the door.”

There was another funeral this past weekend, which was the celebration of Aretha Franklin’s life. This celebration took eight hours, but it also had its controversy. The Reverend Al Sharpton suggested, “I want y’all to help me correct President Trump, to teach him what [respect] means,”

One other thing of note that happened there was that Bishop Charles Ellis III apologized to Ariana Grande for "too friendly” a touch during Aretha Franklin’s funeral. Can you believe a minister acting this way during a funeral?

The Left will turn the celebration of a person’s life into an opportunity to try and advance their agenda. I do not know if any of the polling organizations will ask voters about the crass performance of the two former presidents at the McCain funeral, as well as the disrespect of the dead by former political leaders. If they do, I don’t think the Left will receive very high marks. My guess is voters will be outraged. Why the outrage? It is because most Americans have respect and compassion for the dead. They do not like the idea of those grieving at a ceremony celebrating the lives of those recently departed being turned into a political process. This is an example of the elites telling us they know what is best and we should go along with them because they say so. What we think is not important.

Dan Perkins is an author of both thrillers and children’s books. He appears on over 1,100 radio stations. Mr. Perkins appears regularly on international TV talk shows, he is current events commentator for seven blogs, and a philanthropist with his foundation for American veterans, Songs and Stories for Soldiers, Inc. More information about him, his writings, and other works are available on his website, DanPerkins.guru. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.