Presidents Day

I mentioned on Lincoln's birthday that the Washington Mall was "my favorite place to be in the whole United States." And I was excited to walk the mall and visit Lincoln's Memorial on the eve of his birthday. Tomorrow is Washington's birthday, and while today is the federal holiday, technically the country today celebrates our first president, and not all 44 of them. Popular culture conflated the day to include both Washington and Lincoln and political correctness rejected presidential greatness all together for historical relativism. See, Jennifer Braceras, at Boston Herald, "Presidents Day Watered Down: Not All Deserving of Such a High Honor":

In our universities, deconstructionists have taught two generations of students to reject American exceptionalism in favor of a view of America as oppressor. Rather than teach our country’s story as one of progress, these academics teach our history as a series of unfortunate events. In their view, people act only out of self-interest; heroism is a myth.

Over time, these pernicious ideas have infected the American consciousness:

Today, our leaders apologize to dictators for America’s alleged sins (see, for example, President Obama’s speech in Cairo in 2009); our historians study the past with a prurient interest in private scandal rather than public work; and our elementary schools refuse to teach students about our Founding Fathers.

Indeed, although some Massachusetts school children learn about colonial life and society, very few study Massachusetts patriots John Adams or Paul Revere or attempt to understand how these men changed the course of history.

Even fewer learn to honor Washington or Lincoln. Sadly, students today are more likely to lament that Washington owned slaves than to admire him for his humility in rejecting monarchy or a lifetime presidency. Likewise, they are more likely to describe Lincoln as a racist manic-depressive than as the “Great Emancipator” who saved our country from disintegration.

Readers will recall that I walked the Mall from Congress to the Lincoln Memorial. I stopped at the Washington Monument to reflect. This next photo is extra special. My son and I sat on this side of the monument in 2007. One can see the White House when backed up to the wall. Congress is to the east in the distance. I love it up there:

One more photo before heading back over to catch a cab back to the hotel: