Feb 21, 2011

A: Blogs and Presidents

by Liberty and Power

Q: What are 2 things I'm less enthusiastic about than I used to be?

On the former, it had occurred to me that since I started using Facebook, I haven't been nearly as active blogging here at L&P. But now that the NYT has run a story confirming my hypothesis I may start blogging more just to be ornery.

On the latter, well, today is"presidents day." When I was a lad, we had"Washington's Birthday" - a day to celebrate one particular person and his accomplishments. Now we have to celebrate all presidents? Um, no thanks. I resent being obliged to celebrate all presidents with a common holiday. Fillmore? Nixon? FDR? Please. I am happy to have a day to celebrate George Washington, but changing that to a generic"presidents day" dilutes any possible meaning of that. And don't start with"we're celebrating the office of the presidency, not any one particular president" - that's worse! A national holiday to celebrate authority generally? That seems, well, un-American. But then we're back to it being a joint celebration of all the presidents, Jefferson and Hoover, Madison and Bush. Not interested. Give me back the Washington's Birthday of my youth please!

More Comments:

Eric Hanneken - 2/22/2011

Don't presidents get enough worship without a special holiday?

Aeon J. Skoble - 2/22/2011

That's the problem with "has to be a Monday" holidays - sure, long weekends are fun, but you risk losing the significance of the holiday. Rather than reflecting on why anyone should celebrate George Washington, we get tv commercials where the car dealers are dressed like Washington. To be honest I'd rather have gone to work today.

Jane S. Shaw - 2/22/2011

Don't worry, Aeon. At least here in North Carolina no one celebrates Presidents' Day anyway. Most offices are open, and for those who aren't at work it's all about shopping.