President's Day - is anyone else less than impressed???

VANITY | 2/14/2004 | Swordmaker

[Swordmaker]

I do NOT want to celebrate "Presidents Day."

I can picture it: you approach a friend and say "Happy Presidents Day!"

"Whatever," responds the friend.

That bored response of indifference is entirely appropriate to this generic, cover-all-bases, watered-down holiday. A day once almost holy in our nation's history has become a day to honor the good, the bad, the so-so, and the really mediocre... equally.

Once upon a time we celebrated the birthday of our nation's first President. George Washington's Birthday was always on February 22nd and it was celebrated as a day to honor a great American.

School children cut out silhouettes of Washington's profile in black construction paper to put on the bulletin boards opposite the silhouette made earlier of Abraham Lincoln. Kids performed in plays about honesty and cherry trees, toting cardboard axes and wearing paper tricorn hats. It was an opportunity to learn about our nation's founding and to reflect on the greatness of a man who, offered a crown, rejected it in favor of the greater good.

In 1968, a House Resolution (HR 15951) effectively hijacked Washington's Birthday and forcibly moved it to the 3rd Monday in February ostensibly to "regularize" the holiday and to also give Federal employees another three day weekend. It also had the unintended consequence of moving the holiday closer to Abraham Lincoln's birthday of February 12th. Some state school systems started calling it "Presidents Day" and combined observations for both. Over the years since then, although it is STILL officially "Washington's Birthday" it has become almost universally "Presidents Day."

The schools, probably in furtherance of Political Correctness and afraid to "dis" someone's favorite president, have made it into a day to honor ALL persons who have been President of the United States of America. George Washington has been LOST in the evolution of the holiday!

This subsumption of a day to honor our first President into a PC generic "Well, every president is worthy of equal honor" holiday offends me. I prefer NOT to honor William Jefferson Blythe Clinton. I prefer not to give "Jimmy" Carter his allocated ever decreasing fraction of the day's memorialization. Others may prefer that Richard Nixon not be allocated any portion of the day's observances. It might be best if we simply consigned some of these less successful presidents to the dust bin of history.

Someone might suggest that we add additional holidays for the better presidents. A Ronald Reagan Day, for example, would be welcomed by many conservatives and I am sure the liberals would love to have a FDR Day, or even (blech) a Bill & Hillary Clinton Day. However, there are only 365 days in a year (well, 366 this year) and, quite frankly, we would soon run out of days for holidays. There are also only so many days left for productive work in each year... and if we make these holidays "no work" days, pretty soon it would adversely impact our Gross National Product. In fact, each "non-working" holiday we now celebrate "costs" us about a half percent of the potential GNP. There are better ways to honor our Presidents than giving the public another day to shop and consume without producing.

Instead of piling all of them into one day, consider that there are 52 Saturdays and 52 weeks every year. We dedicate a week to a particularly well liked president with appropriate celebrations and observances without forcing him to 'share' or be eclipsed by others. Others, not so well supported, could be honored with a non-holiday day of rememberance (or for some not admired at all, such as in the case of Clinton, 23 seconds).

I, for one, heartily second the idea of carving a gigantic bust of Ronald Wilson Reagan on Mount Rushmore. (He could even replace Theodore Roosevelt who actually didn't accomplish all that much). Build him a memorial in Washington to rival Lincoln's or Jefferson's... but don't loose him as just one of 42 other holders of the office of president.

For now, give us back Washington's Birthday! Let us honor and celebrate the greatness of this visionary man. And while we are at it, put it back where it belongs, on February 22nd... or perhaps it should be the day that was displayed on the calander when he WAS born, February 11th!

[John Beresford Tipton]

I used to enjoy passing by the library on
Lincoln's Birthday and seeing the sign:

LIBRARY CLOSED IN HONOR OF LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY

[cyborg]

Like a lot of other political holidays, I don't make much of President's Day. I'm conscious of their achievements and move on. There are enough holidays IMHO.

[Theresawithanh]

President's Day is one of the few three-day week-ends my employer gives us. Sad to say, that's what I think of it as, another day off.

[VaMarVet]

I, for one, cannot understand why the Father of our country does not have his own holiday. MLK is the only 'individual' that does (official federal holiday). Lumping in George Washington and Abraham Lincoln with the likes of clintoon under the umbrella of a President's Day is a national joke.

[SamAdams76]

Personally, I don't think "birthdays" should be holidays at all. Except of course, for the birthday of Christ (which really isn't his birthday anyhow, but that's an argument for another day).

I think we should stick with the core six - New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The rest are all window dressing. And that includes Valentines Day.

We should call those holidays the "Super Six." To make up for not having the other lesser holidays off, I say we take the entire week between Christmas and New Year's and take at least a four-day weekend for Independence Day (a five-day weekend when it falls on Wednesday). And a four-day weekend for Thanksgiving.

There you have it. Now all you have to do is elect me president and I'll make it happen for you all.

[Iscool]

No such thing as presidents day...If it's not Washington's birthday, our 1st President, then it's nothing...

[Shooter 2.5]

(He could even replace Theodore Roosevelt who actually didn't accomplish all that much).

It sounds like it's time for you to hit the history books.

[Tacis]

Ah, but you haven't anticipated the next attempt by the evil white man to denigrate our beloved black hero, MLK, and the efforts of our principled politicians to stop them.

King is the token, the affirmative action black whose positives are OK and negatives, which have been surpressed, are not so bad as to allow the white pimps in Congress and black con-persons all over the country to agree that he is better than two evil white presidents and, therefore, deserves his own holidy while they don't. Fine.

But, there are con-persons of other races and politician-pimps who service them. Next, they will try to raise Caesar Chavez to sainthood and worship his birthday. The logical step would be to lump Chavez with King and call in Minorites Day or something like that. But, can you imagine the response? The blacks would go beserk. Hillie and Chuckie-Schmuckie would have strokes and Jesse would be able to afford several more illegitimate children.

The evil white presidents' days are past. Their contribution to our society isn't PC and the pimps know their supporters don't care. But, this battle will come!!

[Ohioan]

The deliberate downgrading of our public reverence for the memory of the greatest of the Americans, is one more example of the contemptible mindset that governed in the days of LBJ and the "Great Society."

Consider the fact that Washington's Farewell Address was read in most American High Schools 100 years ago, as it had been by so many between then and 1796. Consider the soundness of the views; and how soundly they repudiate some of the stupid notions that have become almost shibboleths on the Left during the 20th Century, and which negatively impact us today. (Farewell Address.)

I know some of the regulars, here, are into Home Schooling; that virtually all will acknowledge that the proper parental role is to instill values into children. All are urged to make the Farewell Address and important tool in their children's education. We who believe in the American tradition have everything to gain, in making Washington, once again, "First in the hearts of his countrymen!"

William Flax

[Swordmaker]

It sounds like it's time for you to hit the history books.

Actually, I Like TR. I tossed that in to see if anyone else did and would respond. Thanks for doing so!

[Cicero]

It was a very successful Democrat coup.

In the old days we had Lincoln's Birthday on February 12, and Washington's Birthday on February 22. Then, more or less at the same time, the Democrats proposed that we should have Martin Luther King's birthday, business leaders said that was too many national holidays, so they settled on one birthday for MLK and one President's day.

That was great, because it got rid of a Republican icon who freed the slaves and might give black voters the wrong idea, and it gave the Democrats credit for MLK Day. The spineless Republicans, naturally, went along with the whole thing so as not to be labeled as racists. (The result, of course, is that they are labeled as racists.)

The Civil Rights Movement of the 60s and 70s was a major event in our country's history, one of the few good things to happen in the 20th century even though not all the political results were beneficial. Probably Martin Luther King is as good a person to represent and celebrate it as anyone. But IMHO by far the two greatest presidents in American history were Washington and Lincoln. Their stature was far greater than MLK's. It was a sad mistake for the Republicans to allow those national holidays to be abolished. The Democrats always seem to have their eyes on their political advantage; the Republicans never.

[iconoclast]

Personally, I don't think "birthdays" should be holidays at all.

You certainly have a right to your opinion, but you certainly hold the "Father of our Country" (a giant of a man, IMHO) in much lower regard than do I.

[SamAdams76]

You certainly have a right to your opinion, but you certainly hold the "Father of our Country" (a giant of a man, IMHO) in much lower regard than do I.

That assumption is way out of line. Especially since I have an entire shelf of my library dedicated to the man and almost worship him. But having his birthday designated a holiday and then having it hijacked by auto dealerships to clear their lots of cars to make room for the new model year, well, that does not do much to honor George Washington.