What are your favorite Presidents Day traditions?
Some federal holidays have little meaning. Some are quite meaningful. People may have different feelings about each one. How you felt in the third grade may be different from how you feel now.
New Year’s Day
May be a fun time based on your personal traditions. May be a good time to grasp a feeling of starting over or making plans for the new year.
Any meaning in connection with the US federal government or US history?
Martin Luther King Day
One of the very most meaningful to me, based on US history and his teachings of non-violent civil disobedience.
Presidents Day
Meaningful if you are in the third grade. Much less meaningful as time goes on. When I was in the third grade, this history had not been established:
Six US Presidents have now had their hands on the wheel in Iraq
February 5, 2021 KARE 11
St. Cloud-based National Guard aviators deploying to Kuwait and Iraq
Will there ever come a time when newspeople ask if there is any military emergency, national emergency, draft, or declaration of war, linked to the movement of National Guard troops to an overseas location?
Memorial Day
Very meaningful. Could be more meaningful if the observance included an Armistice Day component. The idea that the troops are sent to distant lands to defend American rights and freedoms seems to be the primary theme.
If politicians were serious about Memorial Day they would insist on a formal congressional declaration of war before sending The Troops into action.
If Politicians Were Serious About Memorial Day…
Juneteenth
9:16
A US President who never mentioned Juneteenth in any speech during 8 years in office:
4th of July or Independence Day
Historically meaningful. Today, it’s a big celebration staged by a country that is not free. The day may be used to give thanks to veterans for defending American rights and freedoms in distant lands.
The Presidents of Presidents Day sign off on stuff like this:
While the troops were deployed, federal law was signed prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to adults age 18-20.
Can elected officials of any party or any member of the press help us to understand the militarized version of freedom here:
Dec 21, 2019 KOMO News
Legal age to buy cigarettes, vapes raised to 21 nationwide
July 4, 2014
Libertarians Are the Real Fourth of July Patriots
“…the signers of the Declaration of Independence, which we celebrate today, opposed everything the U.S. government represents today, including big government, standing armies, militarism, and empire.”
“…the revolutionaries in 1776 were not supporting their troops after the issuance of the Declaration of Independence. They were instead killing the soldiers of their very own government.”
July 4, 2018 Laurence M. Vance
“Patriotism is now equated with profound admiration for the military. It doesn’t matter what where the troops go, how long they stay, what they do when they are there, whether they should go, why they go, or how much it costs to keep them there.”
Labor Day
Meaningful for some, based on an understanding of the American labor movement. For many, just a day off, or a day for wondering why there is not a federal holiday for people who graduate from high school or one for people who get married.
Columbus Day
One of the very least meaningful. Columbus never set foot in what is today the 50 US states.
The spirit of adventure taught to small children on Columbus Day will be crushed by Halloween, when families will wait to be told by local authorities when trick or treating will begin & end.
Veterans Day
One of the very most meaningful for some. Stolen from Armistice Day in the 1950s. At that time, the US Dept. of Defense had started a decades long tradition of not being able to stay out of or win undeclared wars in distant lands.
Today, Armistice Day is free chow day.
Meet a veteran who isn’t shy about going out & grabbing a couple free meals-it’s a proud thing:
FOREIGN POLICY Sept 21, 2018
Military Worship Hurts U.S. Democracy
By Mara E. Karlin and Alice Hunt Friend
“I don’t want to board the airplane first. I don’t want your first-class seat. I don’t want free admission to amusement parks. … It only allows Americans to assuage their guilt and feeds an outsized sense of entitlement among many veterans.” Talking to a New York Times reporter in 2015, another veteran ventured that when a nonveteran thanks him for his service, it is akin to saying, “I haven’t thought about any of this.”
My take:
This may all be some sort of post-Vietnam guilt at work. The guilt doesn’t seem to work towards staying out of undeclared wars.
The US should maintain strong and ready military forces.
In some cases, the US Armed Forces provide for our security. That’s as good as it gets.
In terms of American rights and freedoms-The Dept. of Defense has no more say than the Dept. of Agriculture.
Goodbye Armistice Day – Free Meals, Deals and Discounts
Maybe Get Away From The Bragging About Freedom?
Thanksgiving Day
One of the very most meaningful. A time to give thanks for what is important in your life.
The elementary school lessons about friendly relations with Indians who were later slaughtered by the US government are questionable.
Christmas Day
A holiday of great religious significance.
Somehow linked to the US federal government or US history? Not too sure about that.
For me, I look at 365 days a year as the time to do more or less in terms of what we think is meaningful in life. Things that are meaningful are on our mind all the time. They are not saved up for a special day on the calendar.
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Photo-
The beer photo fetish.
A year round tradition, not linked with any special day on the calendar.