PD Editorial: A holiday in search of an identity

For many Americans, today is a holiday.

Don't expect fireworks or a special feast, and you won't receive any mail. You don't have to feed the parking meters in downtown Santa Rosa. Buses are running, but schools are closed. If you don't work in retail or public safety, it may be a day off (even for pundits: you're reading an updated version of an editorial first published three years ago).

Most K-12 students and teachers had a holiday last Monday, too. Except at Santa Rosa Junior College. The college crowd took Friday off. And today, too.

Sonoma County offices also were closed last Monday. But if you weren't able to take care of a permit or some other business last week, don't try today. Most county offices are closed again. City, state and federal offices stayed open last week (except state courts, which closed along with county offices). They're all closed today.

Pop quiz: What holiday are we celebrating? Chances are you said Presidents Day. A good guess, but that's wrong.

Today is George Washington's birthday.

Well, not really. Washington was born on Feb. 22, which is this coming Wednesday in 2017.

Washington's birthday became a federal holiday in 1885. It's marked with a day off for many in the private sector and most of the public sector. Since 1971, when Congress passed the federal Uniform Monday Holiday Act, Washington's birthday is observed on the third Monday in February. One consequence, intended or otherwise, is that the holiday falls between Feb. 15 and 21, never landing on Washington's actual birthday.

Sorry, Mr. President.

As for the school holidays and the county and court closures scattered across the past week, they marked Abraham Lincoln's birthday - Feb 12.

Many historians consider Washington and Lincoln our greatest presidents (although you might get an argument from the present occupant of the White House). Yet Lincoln's birthday isn't recognized as a federal holiday, and few private-sector workers get a day off in his honor.

Lincoln's birthday was an official holiday for California state employees until 2009, when it was eliminated along with Columbus Day as a cost-saving measure. About a half-dozen states recognize it as a holiday.

Alabama and Florida opt instead for Jefferson Davis' birthday, presumably in tribute to his being president of the Confederacy as opposed to his stint in the Cabinet of President Franklin Pierce, who served one undistinguished term in the 1850s and, aside from being the namesake for a college and several counties, is commemorated only in those states that officially recognize Presidents Day.

Ah, Presidents Day. There it is again. And if you glance at your calendar, it's probably there, too. But no such holiday exists in federal law, and only a handful of states officially recognize it. Even Hallmark doesn't have a line of Presidents Day greeting cards. Well, we don't think so, anyway. (And that's just fine with us.)

Washington and Lincoln are worth celebrating. But two holidays in one week, scattered among four different days, one widely recognized, the other limited to a subset of governments agencies, is confusing and, yes, excessive. Wouldn't a single Presidents Day, on an agreed upon date, be enough?