It came to my attention that Monday is a holiday. My immediate response was, what holiday ? Columbus day, of course. Poor Columbus I always seem to forget about him. He has come under a lot of scrutiny lately too. I guess his star is dimming. Well at any rate it is a National holiday. I know that because I had to look it up on Google. Funny thing though, National holidays are not necessarily celebrated by the nation. In fact seventeen states do not observe Columbus day. It is a local observance in Florida, it is Native American Day in South Dakota and Indigenous People day in California and Minnesota.
I just had to read a bit more about this apparent conundrum. How can it be a National holiday if the entire nation does not observe it ? The answer is quite simple. The Federal Government is the nation. At least that is the view of the government. National holidays are only established for the federal government. Private companies and other businesses are not required to follow either federal or state holidays.
The federal government has established eleven national holidays. Ten of these are observed annually and one quadrennially. Who knew that inauguration day was a federal holiday ? All other holidays are created by the states.
It seems to me I read about this stuff before. Isn't it funny how this stuff works. The government can make holidays for itself, but the nation as a whole does not have to observe them. The states can make holidays for themselves, but no one is required to observe them. We have so much freedom in the United States we don't even have to observe a holiday if we don't want to ! Take that other Nations of the world with your "national holidays" imposing holiday observances upon your citizens
!
On monday you may choose what to observe, or to not observe at all. Is it Columbus day,Native American Day, or Indigenous day ? Depends upon where you are in the States. The bottom line is, if you do not work for the federal government you are not guaranteed any holiday at all ! Isn't that surprising ? The government has established benefits for themselves that are not guaranteed to the citizens. Well, it is convenient when you have the vote on such matters isn't it ? I just might be tempted to vote myself a few more holidays. Just sayin'
I just had to read a bit more about this apparent conundrum. How can it be a National holiday if the entire nation does not observe it ? The answer is quite simple. The Federal Government is the nation. At least that is the view of the government. National holidays are only established for the federal government. Private companies and other businesses are not required to follow either federal or state holidays.
The federal government has established eleven national holidays. Ten of these are observed annually and one quadrennially. Who knew that inauguration day was a federal holiday ? All other holidays are created by the states.
It seems to me I read about this stuff before. Isn't it funny how this stuff works. The government can make holidays for itself, but the nation as a whole does not have to observe them. The states can make holidays for themselves, but no one is required to observe them. We have so much freedom in the United States we don't even have to observe a holiday if we don't want to ! Take that other Nations of the world with your "national holidays" imposing holiday observances upon your citizens
!
On monday you may choose what to observe, or to not observe at all. Is it Columbus day,Native American Day, or Indigenous day ? Depends upon where you are in the States. The bottom line is, if you do not work for the federal government you are not guaranteed any holiday at all ! Isn't that surprising ? The government has established benefits for themselves that are not guaranteed to the citizens. Well, it is convenient when you have the vote on such matters isn't it ? I just might be tempted to vote myself a few more holidays. Just sayin'
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