Posted on by Dean Clancy

14. Update Our Public Calendar and Currency

A Plan to Renew the Promise of American Life, Plank 14

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Plank 14. Update our public calendar and currency

Specific Recommendations

14.1. To increase voter turnout, hold federal elections on the second Monday in May instead of the first week of November and make Election Day a federal holiday.

14.2. Convene Congress on June 1st instead of January 3rd (which will eliminate congressional lame-duck sessions) and inaugurate the president on July 1st instead of January 20th (which will shorten presidential transitions).

14.3. To simplify federal budgeting, begin the federal fiscal year on January 1st instead of October 1st.

14.4. End Daylight Savings Time.

14.5. Update the ten federal holidays, and the images on United States coins and currency, to celebrate American principles and achievements.

Comments

This plank is primarily about two things: our public calendar and our public symbols. This may seem trivial compared with the rest of this plan. But surely it’s not unimportant. Common symbols have a common meaning. They help us remember who we are. They can inspire us to be our best. While these recommendations are not essential, I humbly think they would be beneficial.

Fiscal Year

Let’s synchronize the federal fiscal and tax years with the calendar year. Just start everything on January 1st. This is not a radical idea. January 1st was the original start of the federal fiscal year. Congress has moved it twice, to July 1st in 1843 and to October 1st in 1976. (And yet it still can’t get its budget work done on time.) Let’s complete the circle and return to where we started.

Election Day

We have universal adult suffrage, yet half of voters typically do not bother to vote. In the nineteenth century, we had a more restricted franchise and average voter turnout was very high. Does that mean we should restrict the franchise? No. While I confess I have my doubts about the wisdom of letting everyone who breathes have access to the ballot, I’m realistic enough to know that we’re never going to restrict the franchise in any significant way. It is not going to happen. What we can do is make a virtue of necessity and end all the nonsense talk about ‘voter suppression’ and the like. Let’s remove all unreasonable barriers to voting in order to reduce the share of the electorate who don’t bother to participate. I would not make voting compulsory as they do in Australia, but I would move Election Day to a warmer time of year and make it a federal holiday. I would also have it coincide with Flag Day and place it on the second Monday in May — a beautiful time of year.

A benefit of making Election Day a federal holiday, and during a mild-weather time of year, is that it would weaken the case for early voting, which, as the reader will recall, we minimize under the ballot integrity plank, and vote-by-mail schemes, which we abolish.

Inauguration Day

As a logical consequence of moving election day to mid-May, we would of course need to move the day on which federal officers are sworn in. I propose that each year Congress ordinarily convene on June 1st instead of January 3rd and that after each presidential election the president and vice president be sworn in on July 1st instead of January 20th. This requires a constitutional amendment.

So, elections would be held in mid-May and the transition time between elections and swearings-in would shrink from the current nine or ten weeks to just two or three. Lame-duck sessions, which nobody likes except losers and lobbyists, would be a thing of the past. /1

Daylight Savings Time

Is there any good reason to continue with Daylight Savings Time? Pretty sure World War I is over.

Federal Holidays

Reforming the calendar would ideally include a refresh of our current federal holiday calendar. First, we can spread them more evenly over the year. And second, we can refocus them on things that should unite us.

Let’s start with the focus. We have federal holidays to honor workers, veterans, and fallen defenders, but none to honor first responders or that most under-appreciated group, taxpayers. Why?

We have holidays to honor George Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Christopher Columbus, but none to honor Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, or James Madison, to name three of my favorites, and no holiday to honor any woman.

Meanwhile, Washington’s Birthday has quietly devolved into ‘Presidents’ Day. Seriously?! Without an act of Congress, we’ve decided to celebrate Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Joe Biden? And by the way, how is celebrating ‘all presidents’ different from celebrating the presidency as an institution? It has a whiff of monarchy.

Most people cannot tell you what Labor Day celebrates or explain the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Some are offended by Columbus Day. (I am not, but I can respect those who are.) And apart from July 4th, there is not a single federal holiday dedicated to America’s founding or principles. Surely we can do better.

Sometimes, I wonder whether we should have holidays celebrating our victories in the Civil War, the two World Wars, and perhaps the Cold War — but then I think better of it. Wars tend to bring out the worst in people.

So, I say let’s update at least a few of the holidays to downplay the emphasis on individuals and groups and show some love to our principles and achievements.

Here’s my own proposal:

  • Keep the five most traditional holidays, namely, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, Independence Day, and Memorial Day.
  • Also keep Juneteenth.
  • Replace five existing holidays, namely, MLK Day, Washington’s Birthday, Labor Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day with four days that celebrate the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, Civil Rights, and the American Flag. /2
  • Have an additional three-day weekend.
  • Spread the dates more evenly across the year.

For reference, here’s our current calendar:

  1. New Year’s Day (January 1)
  2. Martin Luther King’s Birthday (last Monday of January)
  3. Washington’s Birthday (third Monday of February)
  4. Memorial Day (last Monday in May)
  5. Independence Day (July 4)
  6. Juneteenth National Independence Day (June 19) /3
  7. Labor Day (first Monday of September)
  8. Columbus Day (second Monday of October)
  9. Veterans Day (November 11)
  10. Thanksgiving Day (fourth Thursday of November)
  11. Christmas Day (December 25)

And here’s my proposed replacement: /4

  1. New Year’s Day (January 1)
  2. Civil Rights Day (third Monday of February)
  3. Flag Day (Election Day) (second Monday in May)
  4. Memorial Day (last Monday in May)
  5. Emancipation Day (Juneteenth) (third Monday of June)
  6. Independence Day (July 4)
  7. Constitution Day (first Monday of September)
  8. Bill of Rights Day (second Monday of October)
  9. Thanksgiving Day (fourth Thursday of November)
  10. Christmas Day (December 25)

Comparison:

  • Old: 11 public holidays
  • New: 10 public holidays
  • Old: 5 Monday holidays
  • New: 6 Monday holidays
  • Old: Fiscal year starts October 1st
  • New: Fiscal year starts January 1st
  • Old: Election day is first Tuesday in November (can fall on Nov. 2nd through 8th)
  • New: Election day is second Monday in May (can fall on May 8th through 14th)
  • Old: Congress convenes January 3rd
  • New: Congress convenes June 1st
  • Old: President inaugurated January 20th
  • New: President inaugurated July 1st

Currency Images

Highlighting individuals on United States coins and currency smacks of monarchy. Traditionally the face on the currency belongs to the sovereign, for example, the Roman emperor or the British monarch. Since we’re a republic, not a monarchy, and since the American people are our sovereign, why not celebrate them? If we merely try to update the current pantheon, we get into inevitable fights over issues of political correctness, focusing on secondary qualities like sex and ethnicity and alleged victim status rather than true greatness. In lieu of faces on our national coins and bills, I would substitute inspiring symbols, patriotic scenes, important historical events, or inspiring quotations.

Speaking of quotations, one reason to put key quotations from the Constitution on our money is that politicians might actually read them.

Here’s what I’m suggesting. Instead of the current line-up of notes:

  • $1 Washington
  • $2 Jefferson
  • $5 Lincoln
  • $10 Hamilton
  • $20 Jackson
  • $50 Grant
  • $100 Franklin

… why not:

  • $1 Washington crossing the Delaware
  • $2 Lexington and Concord (‘The shot heard round the world . . . ‘)
  • $5 Lincoln at Gettysburg (‘That government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish . . . ‘)
  • $10 The Bill of Rights (‘Congress shall make no law . . . ‘)
  • $20 The Declaration of Independence (‘We hold these truths . . . ‘)
  • $50 Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lincoln Memorial (‘I have a dream . . . ‘)
  • $100 The signing of the Constitution (‘A republic, if you can keep it.’)

The reverse sides could focus on famous places and natural wonders. There are many possibilities. The important thing is to shift the emphasis to things that more clearly unite and inspire us as a people. As for our coins, I personally think we should follow the 1792 Coinage Act and display, on each denomination, a symbol of liberty on the front and an eagle on the back.

State of the Union

A pet peeve. Presidents should deliver their annual State of the Union addresses in writing, as all presidents did from Jefferson through Taft. The yearly ‘SOTU’ ritual is ludicrous, having devolved into a political infomercial. The press should refuse to televise these awful displays, invitees should refuse to attend them, and the public should refuse to watch them. Harumph!

Joint Meetings of Congress

Another pet peeve. I really don’t care for speeches by foreigners to joint meetings of Congress. The honor of addressing the elected representatives of the American people has been reduced, through frequency, into a photo op for any foreign VIP who happens to be passing through town. Only Lafayette has deserved such an honor, in my humble opinion — and, well, okay, Churchill. But it should be a rare honor, so it actually means something.

Pledge of Allegiance

I have an embarrassing confession to make. I am not a fan of the Pledge of Allegiance — as it’s currently worded. It’s too chauvinist, too much like ‘My government, right or wrong!’ I have no problem with having an official pledge, but I think its recitation should be voluntary, and I think the wording should be true to our principles. In place of the current pledge, I would substitute the obvious replacement, namely, the ‘We hold these truths’ paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. It succinctly sets forth the first principles of our republic and distinguishes us from every other nation. And it’s one of the most eloquent passages in the English language.

National Anthem

Another embarrassing confession (my last, I promise). I think ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ is a pretty bad song and not worthy of its special status. It has been our official national anthem since 1931. ‘Hail, Columbia,’ the song’s forgotten nineteenth-century alternative, is also pretty uninspiring, lyrics-wise, and tune-wise is merely okay. In the place of Francis Scott Key’s celebration of our flag as seen by mortar-light, I would give this honor to ‘America the Beautiful’ (‘O beautiful, for spacious skies …’), which, if you like, we could make a second, alternative anthem. It’s okay to have more than one. We did, before 1931. ‘America the Beautiful’ (in its finished version, from 1911) is a better poem than ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ with a better melody, and — the clincher for me — the damn thing is actually singable.

America, America
God shed his grace on thee
and crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea

America, America
God mend thine every flaw
confirm thy soul in self-control
thy liberty in law

Notes

1/ Lame-duck sessions occur when an outgoing Congress, including its defeated members, passes last-minute laws that do not reflect the will of the most recent electorate.

2/ You may have a better list, but those are my favorites because they include specific days for remembering the original Constitution, the first ten Amendments, the Thirteenth Amendment, and the Fourteenth — hard to think of better developments in our history.)

3/ Update, June 17, 2021: Today a bill became law adding to the federal calendar the Emancipation Day holiday that I endorsed in 2013, although not under that name, but rather under the name, ‘Juneteenth National Independence Day.’ It celebrates the arrival of the news of emancipation in Texas in June of 1865. That brings the number of federal holidays to eleven, and I have updated this post accordingly. I am thrilled Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, but I will confess I am less enamored of the phrase, ‘National Independence Day.’ Why? Because it sounds too much like our original Independence Day, July 4, and because it seems to suggest African Americans are a separate nation from other Americans. We are one people! This holiday, by the way, has existed informally among African Americans since 1865 and formally in a number of states since the 1930s, beginning with Texas, where it originated. There, it is called Emancipation Day and Juneteenth. No mention of ‘National Independence.’

4/ It might be tempting to try to create exactly one three-day weekend in every calendar month, but that would make for too many public holidays, in my opinion. Think of the cost to taxpayers and businesses. And the fact is, most Americans take some private time off for spring and summer breaks, which, when added to my calendar, effectively gives us all a day off, public or private, during each of the twelve months.

Constitutional Amendments

This plank requires one constitutional amendment, to update the starting date of federal terms of office. The date of federal elections can be changed by an act of Congress.

Benefits

Better aligns our civic symbols and celebrations with our principles and ideals.

Revised: June 17, 2021.

Published: June 21, 2013.

Author: Dean Clancy.

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