Happy Presidents Day (for Government Workers)!

Today we observe Washington's and Lincoln's Birthdays, on the third Monday in February to promote business. Like many of our national holidays, actually reflecting on the reason for the holiday is too often replaced by sales, shopping, and going out and having fun.

George Washington - "Father of His Nation" - is in my estimation the greatest American of all. After he led the revolutionaries to victory, our new country wanted to crown him king, and he declined. He even declined the various majestic titles they wished to call him by after winning the presidency, and preferred to be called "Mr. President," a tradition to this day. He reluctantly served, and served only two terms - a tradition that remained until FDR anyway, and then made into law.

Up until the 1960's, Presidents Day was Washington's Birthday. Lincoln's birthday was added in 1968. Rather than focus on Abraham Lincoln as well, we'll focus on "the reason for the season" so to speak, and rather than continue listing all of Washington's great achievements, I think we should just read a few of his own words:

"Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company."

"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence."

"Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession."

"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."

"Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth."

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."

"Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected."

"I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery."

"I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an Honest Man."

"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."

"If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War."

"It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible."

"It is our true policy to steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of the foreign world."

"It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a Free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even of his personal services to the defense of it."

"It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it."

"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience."

"Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."

"Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse."

"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth."

"Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government."

"Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty."

"Some day, following the example of the United States of America, there will be a United States of Europe."

"The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon."

"The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure."

"The administration of justice is the firmest pillar of government."

"The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it."

"The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments."

"The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves."

"The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good."

"There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate, upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard."

"We ought not to look back, unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors and for the purpose of profiting by dear bought experience."

"Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light."

We should really just take a moment to listen to everything he's said here and take it in. There are certainly a few quotes that convicted me - there are more than a few that reinforce some of the ideas I've put forth myself on this blog. How about you? Or are you too busy planning on what to buy at Kohl's Presidents Day Sale!