Keller @ Large: Why Don't We Have A Royal Family?
BOSTON (CBS) - Will you be glued to the TV Saturday morning to watch the royal wedding? Many of us will, and why not? The bride and groom are appealing, and the wedding will be quite the spectacle because no one does pomp like the British.
We Americans like interesting, attractive celebrities and big spectacles. So you have to wonder - why don't we have a royal family of our own?
The obvious answer is that this is America, a country founded on rejection of the very concept of monarchy, and on a Constitution that carefully sets up constraints on any such thing ever developing. But that was all a long time ago, and given our modern-day fascination with celebrity in general and the British royals in particular, why haven't we anointed even a surrogate royal family?
For awhile during the early 1960s, it looked as if the Kennedys might fill the bill. After John F. Kennedy's assassination his widow gave that a boost by comparing the Kennedy White House with Camelot. But over the years that has all fallen apart, and the Kennedys are as widely criticized as they are exalted.
First the Bushes, then the Clintons made a bid for dynastic status of sorts, but again, American political culture seems to love tearing its heroes down as much as building them up.
And while the Trumps seemed interested in recreating the Kennedy magic, the administration's bumpy ride has left that seeming unlikely.
If you ask me, the main reason we don't have or want a royal family is that royalty walks among us every day in the form of teachers, nurses, firefighters, heroic moms and dad, good neighbors. Who needs kings and queens when we've got them.
Your comments are welcome via email at keller@wbztv.com, or use Twitter, @kelleratlarge.