The coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla — the first such ceremony in 70 years — left the couple “deeply touched” and “profoundly grateful”, according to Buckingham Palace. Millions of people around the world, and at least 18 million viewers in the United Kingdom, watched the event on television, and more than 2,000 guests — including world leaders, fellow kings and queens, and celebrities — attended the coronation at Westminster Abbey.
The modern coronation ceremony originated in 751, when Pippin and Betrada were anointed king and queen of the Franks. In 753, the pope anointed the royal couple, along with their two sons, Carloman and (the later emperor) Charlemagne. Florence H.R. Scott writes, “There are one or two anomalous examples of kings being anointed earlier than this date, but this was the ceremony that catalysed the existing 1300-year tradition. This ceremony emerged out of a need to establish legitimacy on shaky foundations — Pippin’s father, Charles Martel, had effectively usurped the previous dynasty, and though he was a powerful magnate, Pippin had no royal power until he created it. The ceremony was thus part innovation and part inspiration — kings such as Solomon had been anointed in the Bible, but not with the clear dynastic meaning of the 751 and 753 ceremonies.
“In the earliest royal inauguration ceremonies, the most important part was the anointing with holy oil. These ceremonies only started to become known as ‘coronations’ from the eleventh century onwards. The practice of anointing kings and heirs was adopted fairly soon across the channel in England after it was established in Francia, though there is little evidence that this involved queens. The earliest surviving inauguration liturgies from England, known as the First English Ordo, only contain a king’s ceremony, which can be partly explained by their West-Saxon origin and the fact that the West Saxons afforded the wives of kings a conspicuously low status. These early English ceremonies also use a helmet, not a crown.”
Things change over time. When the founders wrote the United States Constitution, they used language both precise and broad, making sure that the document would be able to adapt to changing times. The core focus is eternal, but the details are subject to adaptation and amendment.
Thus it was that the Constitution included “due process” provisions dating to the Magna Carta (actually the Magna Carta Libertatum, or “Great Charter of Freedoms”, a royal charter that King John of England approved at Runnymede, near Windsor, in 1215). It stated, “No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.”
In the middle of the 19th century, the U.S. Supreme Court interpreted “due process of law" to mean that “it was not left to the legislative power to enact any process which might be devised. The due process article is a restraint on the legislative as well as on the executive and judicial powers of the government, and cannot be so construed as to leave Congress free to make any process ‘due process of law’ by its mere will.”
With all that in mind, the Supreme Court would make two decisions that remain controversial today. After Norma Leah Nelson McCorvey sought the legal right to an abortion as “Jane Doe”, the case eventually led in January 1973 to the 7–2 Roe v. Wade decision in which the Supreme Court held that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provides a fundamental “right to privacy” which allows a pregnant woman to get an abortion. Then, during 2008, in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court struck down gun regulations, declaring that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. Up to that point, “a well-regulated militia” had not included casual gun-owners. (For a great rundown on the gun rights argument, see Heather Cox Richardson’s column.)
Pro-choice citizens now view abortion as a “constitutional right” and they are upset that the Supreme Court has now overturned Roe. Gun advocates now see gun ownership also as a “constitutional right”. The problem lies in whose rights are being protected, and that is a continuing discussion.
Allowing the constitution to evolve keeps society functioning, and everyone has to obey the law. However, Donald Trump, who is facing legal problems on all sides, complained to reporters in Ireland that he — a “famous rich and political person that’s leading the polls by 40 points” — has to deal with a rape trial. “I have to leave Scotland, I have to leave Ireland, where I have great property,” he said. “I don’t have to but I chose to.”
What is troubling about Trump is that he has gone full-fascist, no longer hiding his disdain of due process. His “Agenda 47” explains what a second Trump presidency would be like. For instance, although he had been forced to pay a $25 million settlement to the people who attended his ill-fated Trump University, the former president now says, “The accreditors are supposed to ensure that schools are not ripping off students and taxpayers, but they have failed totally. When I return to the White House, I will fire the radical Left accreditors that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxist Maniacs and lunatics. We will then accept applications for new accreditors who will impose real standards on colleges once again and once and for all.
“These standards will include defending the American tradition and Western civilization, protecting free speech, eliminating wasteful administrative positions that drive up costs incredibly, removing all Marxist diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucrats, offering options for accelerated and low-cost degrees, providing meaningful job placement and career services, and implementing college entrance and exit exams to prove that students are actually learning and getting their money's worth.”
I think about such things while doing yard work. We have a beautiful old maple tree in our front yard, but some of the branches had died, and we regularly have to pick up chunks of bark or pieces of branches have fallen off onto our lawn.
My father, a lumberman all his life, called it a “rock maple”, and I used to wonder about the difference between a maple, a sugar maple, and a rock maple. To me, it didn’t matter: They were “trees” and that was all that mattered. Sort of like American, Mexican, Asian, black, white — to me, they are simply “people”.
That old tree was here when our house was built in 1926. An Eversource crew clearing the corridor offered to take it down, but we wanted to keep the tree. Then, last winter, a large branch split and a portion was hanging down close to the electric line. We called Eversource to let them know, and they eventually sent along a crew to cut off the damaged branch. They lowered the branch onto our lawn and went on their way.
From my perspective, Eversource was protecting their line by cutting off the branch. They had the crew on-site. They had the equipment to dispose of it.
I’m sure from the company’s perspective, the tree was on our property. We had refused to let them take the tree down earlier. Disposing of the broken branch was our responsibility.
There are always two sides. Both perspectives are valid.
I’ll just have to get out my chainsaw and cut the thing up.
The tree is beautiful.
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