Inaugurals and the American spirit

Madison's own John Nichols has a good article on the Nation website comparing King George's planned totalitarian inaugural festivities with the magisterial humility of Thomas Jefferson's inauguration in 1801.

I shudder to think what Jefferson would make of the sight that will greet us all tomorrow--the helicopters, the Army, the lavish and opulent celebrations under the dark umbrella of fear. He would not recognize this as his America. Not the extravagance, not the force, not the brute unreason, not any of it.