I hate Presidents Day! There, I said it. Why would I hate such an innocuous, ecumenical-sounding holiday? It’s simple, really. Presidents Day does not exist except in the minds of the propagandists who know it doesn’t and those they have fooled into believing it does. There is only one legal, federal holiday celebrating a US president, and that is Washington’s Birthday, exactly as it should be.
Uniform Monday Holiday Act
The so-called Presidents Day was originally dreamed up within the Uniform Monday Holiday Act enacted June 28, 1968, which moved two federal holidays, Washington’s Birthday and Memorial Day, to permanent Mondays on the calendar. Columbus Day was later added to the list. The stated justification for this clandestinely iconoclastic act of Congress was to give federal employees more 3-day weekends as if they needed more rest and relaxation. Veterans Day was originally on the list of federal holidays to be reassigned to a permanent Monday, but it was moved back to its original November 11 by Congress in 1975 since that day was also being celebrated across Europe as Armistice Day. I suppose maintaining European history is a congressional priority.
Watering Down History
In addition to boosting the travel and tourism industry by giving everyone an extra long weekend, the effect of colloquially calling Washington’s Birthday the generic Presidents Day is to separate the universal consciousness of the American people from the distinct memory of our most extraordinary fellow citizen. It is a watering down of history, a mini-cultural revolution executed by our very own representatives. Like many bad ideas that become normalized thoughts among people, the actual intent of a proposition is not always shared, assuming it’s even understood by its authors. For example, the popular election of US Senators prescribed in the 17th amendment was not sold as a method to enslave state governments to the federal leviathan, but that is what happened. Today, countless federal programs are administered by state and local officials in exchange for their addictive funding. I doubt that would be possible if state legislatures still had representation in Congress. We no longer have a contemplative senate. Instead, we have a House of Lords to go along with our House of Commons, uh, representatives.
One might say having those extra long weekends is good for the average worker. How so? Is it good to reduce the productivity of a debt-ridden nation by a few extra days? Is it good to create additional tension between employees and private employers by creating pressure on them to acquiesce to a public holiday? If we are to have national holidays, then let them be established based on the actual mark made on our history and culture by the men and the moments that deserve celebration.
Honoring Our First President
The original, and still legal, name of the mid-winter holiday is Washington’s Birthday in honor of the first president of the United States and Father of our Nation. First established by Congress as a federal holiday in 1879, Washington’s Birthday is a celebration of the most significant person in our nation’s history. He not only led the Continental Army to victory in the War of Independence but he was unanimously selected as its first President following the establishment of The Constitution, the governing framework of our new republic. Respect and admiration for George Washington was so pronounced that the people initially wanted him to be king. Of Washington, King George III of England famously said he would be “the greatest man in the world” if he resigned his commission and returned to Mt. Vernon after the war. Of course, that’s exactly what he did, and he did it again after a 2nd term as president, establishing an unwritten tradition that would stand until a far-from-humble, big-government-leftist decided to run for four terms. Only death could keep such a man from power.
At a time when humility in leaders is so uncommon, recalling our nation’s greatest and most humble leader on his birthday seems a wise and timely pursuit. There have been plenty of presidents who were unworthy of honor beyond the title they once held, so why include them in what was and should be a day of remembrance of true greatness? If Abraham Lincoln, or another truly great president, deserves a holiday, let him have it based on his own merit. Washington’s Birthday should be celebrated alone to encourage all Americans to call to mind that February 22nd was the day our greatest president, the indispensable man, was born.
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