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| 4th of July, Butterfly Beach by Thomas Van Stein |
Citizens by birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. - George Washington
It used to be Washington's Birthday, but then it morphed into the amorphic President's Day. So, now we honor all Presidents, even the likes of the hapless James Buchanan (modern time isn't the only era of Presidential dunces) who said, regarding the slavery issue, that it was "happily, a matter of but little practical importance".
Feh, it's nothing but a holiday for government workers these days. I won't be popping any champaign corks to toast Buchanan and his like. Washington was a fine fellow though.
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. ― George Washington
