Local Public Officials’ Day

David S. Bernstein is the political reporter for the Boston Phoenix, a publication I doubt will be referenced many other times on this blog. Without question, Bernstein is one of the most aggravating writers I read regularly. His work on state politics in Massachusetts and local politics in Greater Boston is (sadly) unique in its breadth and frequency, but his writing drips with disdain for all things right-of-center, and he takes every cheap shot he can manage (and then some) at the conservatives he covers.

He also has a few strange obsessions, among which is photos of politicians with novelty scissors at ceremonial ribbon-cuttings. That prompted the following FB post on the morning of Presidents’ Day:

“Presidents don’t need a Day; they get too much attention already. And besides, when’s the last time you saw one cut a ribbon with oversized novelty scissors? I’d prefer a Local Public Officials Day.” (sic)

Bernstein, of course, presumably meant this at least somewhat as a joke, and his Facebook friends quickly responded several pictures of presidents using giant novelty scissors at ceremonial ribbon-cuttings. Nonetheless, I think Bernstein’s post makes an unintentionally but profoundly conservative point.

The president is certainly a very important part of the American system of government, but he is meant to be only the leader of one of three co-equal branches at the federal level. Several factors about the nature of the presidency already combine to provide the president with a great deal of attention. Moreover, as Yuval Levin has demonstrated, the modern Left tends to seek the narrowing of what ought to be the ample space between the individual and the government. I’d suggest that this runs in parallel to another tendency, that of further centralizing government; it is a tendency, alas, to which neither party has been immune in recent times. Both tendencies should seem problematic to conservatives. They need not ignore that some centralization is necessary, but they are also attuned to its consequences, and recognize the virtues of having decisions made closer to those who will participate in, and be affected by, the actions taken.

I imagine few able to enjoy a day off from work or school would go for ending the holiday entirely, though. I certainly wouldn’t! As a replacement, let’s go with David Bernstein’s suggestion. Maybe, just maybe, we’d then see a salutary recalibration (downstream!) of the relative positions of the federal, state, and local governments in our political system. At the very least, let’s return to calling it “Washington’s Birthday” — Washington, in his attempts to diminish the risks of the president turning into a monarch, deserves our praise and admiration. We certainly have no need for a holiday celebrating the presidency per se, nor a good number of Washington’s successors in that office.

[Disclaimer: no, I don’t actually believe that altering the holiday would lead to a sea change in the American political culture. Doubt it’d hurt, though.]