Washington’s Birthday, Not Presidents’ Day: Let Us Unite to Honor Our Founder, Not Argue About Which Presidents Were the Worst

Today is the federal holiday of Washington’s Birthday. Every year, I call for the restoration of this holiday which is known in most States and more commonly as “Presidents’ Day” or some iteration thereof, with or without the necessary apostrophe or written in the wrong place. And the federal observation is never on February 22, George Washington’s birthday. The treatment of this day, which was intended to honor George Washington greatness as a military leader and Founding Father, not only for his presidency, instead as a day for all the Presidents, dilutes is meaning and is divisive, instead of unitive. The professional media and others tend to argue about which Presidents were the worst or bring up controversial presidential decisions. It certainly was not intended to be about whoever is the current holder of the office. Such discussions are hardly as inspiring as learning about and contemplating the life of public service by Washington. Furthermore, they contribute to the modern cult of the presidency that the Founders would not have appreciated, especially as there is no corresponding popular celebration for the other two co-equal branches of government. There was one consolation this year, as today I noticed a Quarter Dollar with the reverse of Washington Crossing the Delaware that I shall discuss in my next post.