JACK'S BLOG
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PRESIDENTS DAY HAS been a great disappointment to me since its inception. We used to acknowledge Lincoln's Birthday, and celebrate Washington's with a day off. Then someone decided that we should celebrate all of our Presidents. Really? How many of them are worthy of celebration? I don't believe that any of the others equaled the accomplishments of Washington and Lincoln. Few even approached them. Yes, many were popular with some segment of the citizenry, but popularity is a poor test of greatness. George Washington wasn't just the first President. He defined the office. He could have been king, but refused the offer. As a military officer, Washington understood the value and importance of delegation. Thus, he invented the Cabinet. Go ahead and look in the Constitution. You won't find any mention of Secretaries of Defense, Treasury, Commerce, etc. Washington also established the precedent of limited terms of office. He understood that a perpetual president could easily become a tyrant no matter how well-intentioned that person might be. Thus, he limited himself to two four-year terms even though there is no question that he could have remained in office until he died.
Abraham Lincoln preserved the nation. He surrounded himself with the most capable Cabinet of advisors and administrators ever assembled in the Republic's history, largely chosen from his very own rivals for the presidency. Many of them had little respect for Lincoln when his administration began and assumed that they would govern the nation as a committee while Lincoln served only as a figurehead. He quickly disabused them of that notion. Although it was their considered opinion that the South should be allowed to secede, Lincoln chose otherwise, and he held the nation together through nothing more than the force of his character. There are still some who believe that the two halves would have been better off had they split, but the evidence shows that America became an economic and political powerhouse only because it remained united. A special day for celebrating Presidents is utterly unnecessary. We are celebrating our Presidents far too much all year long. We focus on them constantly. Their comings and goings are reported with breathless anticipation. They are rock stars, celebrities. Some have, in effect, elevated the President to the stature that Washington refused, a sovereign. Barack Obama epitomizes this danger. He openly threatens to take unilateral action by executive fiat if Congress refuses to enact the legislation that he wants. This is the action of a sovereign, a tyrant. No, I'm not happy with our government, especially our Presidents. I don't want to celebrate them. I believe its time to put an end to Presidents Day. I'll be happy to celebrate George Washington's and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays. They deserve such adulation. However, I will never be among those who blindly follow an American king. Besides, I would like to have a day off each year again, on my birthday, February 22nd.
4 Comments
2/18/2013 12:22:26 am
I don't even want my birthday remembered. There have been too many of them.
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Jack Durish
2/18/2013 02:37:17 am
Spoken like someone who likes to pretend that he's old
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2/20/2013 10:33:29 am
Well said, Jack. Besides, I think every day is President's day, is it not? I mean, if I had my own 747 and could go play golf with Tiger Woods, or jet off to Hawaii, or, well, you see what I mean.
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Jack Durish
2/20/2013 11:26:58 am
I have heard more about the comings and goings of this President than all of the preceding 11 in my lifetime. Enough, please...
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