What Should Be Our National Holidays?

Europeans famously get 4-6 weeks of paid vacation every year, plus paid national holidays. We get twelve paid national holidays. But are they the right days? Should we have differetn holidays, or additional ones? As a parent, I feel that it would make more sense to have holidays on some other days as well. So below are some of my suggestions in the poll (some of which are serious!). Please add yours in the comments section.

•  Tips

  Suggest your own holidays below, please.

  by Zoltan on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:24:14 AM PDT

  •  We Are One day

    IMG]

    Humanity is One Family with One Heart Day

    by abarefootboy on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 09:33:46 AM PDT

•  I was going to add, Veteran's Day

  How about we call it Armistice Day again, to recapture the sense of ending wars?

  by Zoltan on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:25:14 AM PDT

  •  I like that!

    by cruz on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:35:48 AM PDT

•  Common Sense:

  Election Day!

  by Better Days on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:25:39 AM PDT

•  Election Day

  but would it be possible to get three holidays in one month? Five in two months?

  by nrafter530 on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:28:40 AM PDT

  •  Right

    Election day should be a national holiday.  

    I think it fits into the holiday season, just fine.

    by truegreencore on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:34:51 AM PDT

  •  Not election day

    Election day should be on a Saturday.

    by 1918 on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:44:07 AM PDT

•  Johnny Horton's Birthday.

  Super Bowl Week
  May 17 (syttendemai!!!)

  by bugscuffle on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:30:14 AM PDT

•  Pointless Diary Day!!!1!

  by condoleaser on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:30:34 AM PDT

  •  As the author of several pointless diaries,

    I say this: Hey, sometimes we need a freakin' break.

    by cruz on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:35:17 AM PDT

    •  hey, me too...

      this way, they can all be on one day!

      by condoleaser on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:43:13 AM PDT

•  I know. I should have just ripped into a

  candidate or shown how my candidate is really a deity.

  by Zoltan on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:31:59 AM PDT

•  Oktoberfest!!!

  Yes, I know it isn't exactly an American holiday.  But it's a blast.

  Oh, and the day after Oktoberfest would obviously need to be a holiday too.  

  by Fortschreitend on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:33:43 AM PDT

•  May Day

  should definitely be a holiday.  Solidarity, baby!

  Election day should be a four-day weekend.

  We should have a day off on March 12 to celebrate the Lawrence textile strike of 1912.

  We should have a national day of mourning and repentence on March 24.  This is the day when Archbishop Oscar Romero was gunned down in El Salvador by U.S.-backed paramilitaries.  It should not only be a day of remembrance of the man, but also a day of reflection on our past and continued support of human rights abuses and authoritarianism around the world.

  by cruz on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:34:40 AM PDT

  •  The irony of May Day is that it commemorates

    an event in the U.S.: The Haymarket Massacre in 1886.

    The rest of the world celebrates International Labor Day then to honor our Haymarket martyrs. Only in the U.S. are they forgotten.

    Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

    by Clem Yeobright on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:44:06 AM PDT

•  All I can say is get those overactive

  'sugar high' kids out of the house on November 1st. Holidays are nice, but I prefer Vacation days. When everyone is off together it can be so crowded.

  by Sacramento Dem on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:35:11 AM PDT

•  Earth Day?

  I wanted to post it because I know people who would want me to mention it.

  I don't even celebrate it now, as I think it gives the wrong idea: too many people pick up some plastic bottles out of creek beds and then drive home and think they've done their years work.

  by truegreencore on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:36:39 AM PDT

•  Okay, it's a say day in our country

  when discussing what days we should have off is considered pointless! I mean, are we really so addicted to work, and so opposed to the idea of having more time off?

  Why is this pointless???

  Not to say that I haven't been known to write pointless diaries, but is this really one?

  by Zoltan on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:37:24 AM PDT

  •  How many people can afford 4 weeks of vacation?

    It would take me almost a year just to earn enough vacation time for a week.

    Most Americans couldn't afford to take 4-6 weeks off each year or can only get unpaid time off.

    I blame it on our labor system. I've always wondered if we should have daily production queues and in a 8 hour day, suppose the queue is met in say, 4 hours? Give people 4 hours paid off. How would this hurt? The company would not have to give people more than 8 hours unless totally necessary. With efficient techniques/machinery, the labor load can be cut in half as well. Also, if the company anticipates a full 8 hours of production, it can be met.

    I'm sure most people would call this socialism or communism but I call it common sense. The auto industry could learn from a method like this. Every year, dealers are left with cars that they cannot sell because there's no demand. If they went by a queue, they would only produce what they could actually sell, thus wasting less resources, creating less pollution,etc.

    by Brad007 on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:55:56 AM PDT

•  ...while we're at it...

  Dear Mr. President.  There are too many states nowadays.
    Please eliminate three.  I am not a crackpot!
    -- Grampa Simpson

  by theark on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:39:26 AM PDT

  •  One of the best Simpsons lines ever

    and it works so well in everday life:

    At the post office:
    "There are too many people ahead of me in line.  Please eliminate three."

    At a Republican debate:
    "There are too many bigots in this debate.  Please eliminate three."

    To Newt Gingrich:
    "There are too many chins under your fat face.  Please eliminate three."

    by Fortschreitend on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 09:18:51 AM PDT

•  election day is tempting but David Bowie

  is a great American, well, English hero

  by NY Writer on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:40:04 AM PDT

•  Save the Olay Day! Every year millions of

  helpless olays are needlessly slaughtered for their oil. The vanity of the American Woman knows no bounds. A national holiday to commemorate the innocent olays who have died, and those who continue to perish is a small thing, indeed.

  by Jacques on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:48:42 AM PDT

•  A Two-fer

  Move Election Day to November 1st. That way when the kids are exhausted from the sugar rush, the parents can sneak out and vote.

  by banjolele on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:49:35 AM PDT

•  I picked May Day but Election Day is good too

  Most Republicans fear the idea of Election Day being a national holiday. It means more voter turnout for Dems. ;-)

  by Brad007 on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:51:01 AM PDT

  •  Exactly

    And it seems that our founding fathers perhaps also feared voting by the masses.

    by Zoltan on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 08:53:17 AM PDT

•  I'm for every Monday and Friday.

  by palantir on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 09:00:09 AM PDT

  •  Then run for Congress n/t

    by Zoltan on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 09:02:48 AM PDT

•  The Day After St. Patrick`s Day

  To cure what aled you the day before.

  by Wino on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 09:01:21 AM PDT

•  My constitutional amendment

  would provide an extra day off per month.  It works this way:
  Once week each month, the calendar would have an extra Saturday.  So, Wed., Thur., Fri., Sat., Sat., Sun.

  It wouldn't screw up the dates, since they would remain the same.  (Of course, if you were scheduled to work Saturday that week, you would be pretty much hosed.)

  by kay dub on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 09:02:00 AM PDT

•  I've got a few

  1. Defeat of Custer Day

  2. Sequoyah's Birthday

  3. Free Leonard Peltier Day

  by Abra Crabcakeya on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 09:41:37 AM PDT

•  Election Day

  Scheduled as it is because:
  In November so the heavy work of the harvest would be over
  On a Tuesday so people had all day Monday to travel to their county seat
  Second Tuesday so it won’t fall on the first day of the month when people do their bookkeeping and/or because 11/1 is All Saints Day
  http://www.infoplease.com/...

  or, not the first Tuesday because:

  But it was pointed out that in some years the period between the first Tuesday in November and the first Wednesday in December (when the Electoral College met) would be more than 34 days, in violation of the existing Electoral College law.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/...

  I've also heard that attempts in varous locations to have elections on a Saturday, or make the day a holiday, were nixed for fear of riotous drunken partisans in the streets.

  by Catte Nappe on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 10:06:08 AM PDT

•  Jimi Hendrix' birthday.

  by DW Dawg on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 10:06:44 AM PDT

•  Holidays should reflect our values

  and, conversely, give us a chance to reflect on them. This is key because through reflection we can continually recommit ourselves to those values. In short, the best holidays aren't just an excuse to kick back.

  For example, MLK Day is a great holiday because it's still so clear what value inspired it. Every year it occasions a lot of thought and discussion not just about Dr. King but about the value he championed -- equality. That's a healthy process and each year it seems to me that we as a society are the better for it.

  Look at the rest of the list:

  President's Day (or Washington's Birthday, or whatever it's called these days): Not sure what value would be addressed here, but whatever it is, it seems pretty clear that there isn't much consideration of it. A good day to find a cheap mattress, though.

  Memorial Day is clearly connected to the strong societal value of sacrifice for the common good. I feel we could improve it if we would make consideration of that value more explicit -- and, in particular, reflecting on how the sacrifice those who have fallen should call us to greater shared sacrifice in our everyday lives.

  Independence Day embodies the value of freedom, of course. Celebrations tend to blur into the more amorphous (and sometimes hollow or misused) value of patriotism. In my view, a little refocusing on the core value of freedom, or at least some honest reflection on what constitutes true patriotism, would be worthwhile.

  Labor Day "constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country." It isn't just the end of summer; nor is it merely a celebration of labor unions. It ought to be a reflection on the underlying reasons why we celebrate labor unions: because we value our people, their time, and their hard work.

  Columbus Day is, like President's Day, another puzzler to me and a candidate for replacement by some other, more meaningful holiday.

  Veteran's Day isn't redundant with Memorial Day even though it, too, celebrates sacrifice. Both of these holidays can also focus on courage and gratitude as well.

  Thanksgiving is, obviously, thankfulness. Many here have distinct problems with it, either because of the tragedy surrounding its origin, or because they see it as a festival of gluttony, but for most of us, there is much to be thankful for, and the holiday still seems remarkably able to highlight that.

  Christmas is problematic as a federal holiday because of its religious origins, and because it has seemed in recent decades to celebrate most our "value" of consumerism. But the Christmas season has also evolved a focus on the non-sectarian value of compassion, which truly ought to be central to any civil society. It's also worth recognizing that the other holidays of the season are heavily values-laden. Kwanzaa, in particular, with its seven principles, is an explicit recognition of how holidays and values should intersect.

  New Year's Day is always going to be a holiday, no matter what, and any value is going to be artificially grafted onto it. It's a day when we all recognize the passage of time and many of us attempt resolutions. For myself, I hope the day can be a reflection on the value of using time wisely, the value of resolve, and a recommitment to values generally.

  So where does that leave me? Probably with two current holidays, President's Day and Columbus Day, that I could do without. It's worth considering what other values our society ought to celebrate; justice is one clear choice. Beyond that, I'd offer these two suggestions:

  Earth Day, as a celebration of the societal values of sustainability and environmental stewardship, would be a great substitute for President's Day. Coming in April, it would break up the long span between MLK and Memorial Day just as well.

  Election Day (replacing Columbus Day) needs to be a holiday, as many have noted -- but not just for going to the polls. Let's use it to celebrate democracy's core value: government accountability to the people. And let's not dilute its value by moving it to a Monday. It shouldn't just be an opportunity for another long weekend. It should be a day when we all give a little of ourselves -- if nothing else, at least a little of our mindshare -- toward considering what it takes to construct a workable civil society. It's a good day to reflect on all of our societal values because, one would hope, we're basing our votes on them.

  by Sharpner on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 10:08:44 AM PDT

•  Blue Öyster Cultoberfest

  However, it would also be acceptable to hold it over the last days of May.  
  

  by Quicklund on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 10:57:40 AM PDT