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in Pioneer Square, a small fraction of visiting President Obama's motorcade and security detail. Sidewalks were barricaded, streets and highway exits closed without warning, a big expensive mess of pomp and circumstance all for just one man. Hard to imagine it not going to a person's head. How is any of this excess consistent with the ideals of democracy? What does a democratically elected representative of a free people have to fear? Psychos? Terrorists? Rightwing assassins? Perhaps. Even so, mightn't there be a less ostentatious way to ferry his eminence from photo op to fundraiser? Instead, it's a grand parade fit for an emperor which pre-empts the lives of the citizens who subsidize the spectacle, some of whom might even take foolish pride in it. |