National Perspective: Trump and the long-term implications of history

One of the many casualties of the modern age is the substitution of Presidents Day for the annual celebration of the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 12 and of George Washington on Feb. 22 — two dates that every American schoolchild once knew, marking the births of two presidents every American schoolchild once revered.

As a consequence, on Monday we celebrate automobile and department-store sales rather than salute the president whose dignity and restraint helped create the country and the president whose compassion and vision ended the scourge of slavery. But what is worse is that this generic Presidents Day provides equal approbation for William McKinley and for Theodore Roosevelt, for Herbert Hoover and for Franklin Roosevelt. To say nothing of how Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan can claim coverage by the antiseptic holiday Americans have celebrated since 1971.