I saw an interesting comment on Twitter recently ...
I think this is a pretty good idea.
Some of you will recall that the holiday we now call Presidents' Day was originally a celebration of the birthday of George Washington. In 1968, discussions in Congress led to the redesignation of that holiday as a general holiday honoring all of our presidents. While most of our presidents are worthy of honor and respect, I think that the shortcomings of some of them* argue against a general presidential holiday.
The suggestion to make Election Day a national holiday has often been made, but never adopted. Considering our dismal turnout record for elections, I think it couldn't hurt to do something to make it easier for people to vote. Whether they vote intelligently is, of course, up to them.
What do you think - would replacing the Presidents' Day holiday with an Election Day holiday be a good idea? Leave a comment and let us know. I need something else to bug my elected reprehensives about.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
* You can guess my opinion on at least one.
7 comments:
I think it's a great plan.
Of course, making it a Monday instead of Tuesday will follow and then everyone will be on a three day weekend and won't be back on time to vote.
It's a good idea in concept but John has a point. How about a half day holiday on a Tuesday?
My opinion on it: Make Election Day the holiday instead of Presidents' Day. But keep it on the traditional Tuesday.
As long as I'm on this topic, celebrate Martin Luther King's Day on his actual birthday; not some Monday to make a three day weekend. And (Jeez) I'm on a roll: Celebrate Veterans' Day on November 11th. The real date.
No need to use holidays as excuses for three day weekends!
Geaux Tigers!
An addendum" only about half of our Presidents merit being included in a day to honor them. Presidents' Day smacks too much of faux royalism!
And another problem. We have elections on the first Tuesday of March, April, June, August, and November, depending on the jurisdiction. But I'm sure no one would complain about 5 more holidays.
Wow! Looks like I woke Angel up! I have to say that, now that I'm retired, I don't care as much about three-day holiday weekends, so celebrating MLK and Veterans' Day on their proper days makes sense to me. And I'm good with your estimate of the percentage of presidents worth being honored ... even if it's a little generous. And Mike, I should have been more specific ... I think only the days of general elections (for President and members of Congress or, at the state level, for governor).
Interesting idea. I like it a lot. I think it shouldn't be a 3 day weekend. A day off during the week can be a real bonus, and after voting, people could take advantage.
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