It used to be when a Kennedy would marry, we'd get a whole set of stories about how they were "American royalty," and this wedding was therefore somewhat like the marriage of prince so-and-so to some duchess or other.
Nobody anywhere thinks that about Dakota Meyer marrying Bristol Palin. Dakota Meyer has a better claim to the virtue of courage, at least, than any prince I can think of who has lived since the Hundred Years War; Palin is certainly from a family of high political connections among a certain political party. Yet I think it's fair to say that no one would mistake them for royalty.
Even better, no one would mistake them for people with aspirations toward being royalty. That's the real difference.
That no one would make the comparison might be a way in which some people look down on them as not being fit for membership in the aristocracy. That they would be horrified by the comparison says something about their own character. The something said is deeply American.
Good luck to a young couple. Marriage is hard, but it can be wonderful.
5 comments:
I have to wonder; why is this even news?
I love it that her name will be Bristol Meyer. (Which I'd said it myself, but I saw it on Instapundit.)
I also thought it was interesting that it was news -- probably it's the media's obsession with the Palins -- but in a way the fact that it seems strange is another point along the same line.
The Palin connection is the only reason it made the news- the press and most of the public had no idea who Dakota Meyer is.
Good point. I forget that.
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