EDITORIAL: Presidents' Day, or No Kings Day?
Not all presidents are created equal. We are stronger when we recognize both the strengths and weaknesses of those who sat behind the Resolute Desk.
By Phil Huber
GUEST WRITER
Americans once toasted the British king’s birthday with parades, parties, and pageantry. After the Revolution, those royal celebrations vanished—but our habit of fixating on a single leader never really did. Over time, George Washington’s birthday morphed into “Presidents Day,” a three‑day weekend that treats every president as equally worthy of celebration, from George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson.
That makes no sense in a republic that was founded on the promise of no kings.
Historian Lindsay Chervinsky has made this case powerfully. She argues in her column “A History of Presidents' Day,” that celebrating the birthdays of public officials feels “too monarchical,” like the old royal jubilees that glorified a ruler’s birth instead of judging their deeds.
Kings claimed power by bloodline and divine right. Presidents are supposed to earn authority through service to the Constitution—and to give that power back when their term ends. When we lump all presidents together into one feel‑good holiday, we blur the difference between genuine civic virtue and simple occupancy of high office.
So, this year, I think we should take Chervinsky’s warning seriously and go a step further. Let’s quietly rebrand the day in our own homes and communities as “No Kings Day,” a phrase I borrow from the Indivisible movement.
“No Kings Day” doesn’t erase the presidency. It puts the job back in its proper place: powerful, necessary, but always temporary and always answerable to the people.
On “No Kings Day,” the question is not “Which presidents do you like?” It’s “Who used power to expand freedom—and who abused it?” We can tell the story of Washington surrendering his military command when he could have clung to it. We can talk about Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation in the middle of a brutal war.
We can also be honest about presidents who defended slavery, backed Jim Crow, or trampled civil liberties. Titles and portraits don’t earn respect; choices do.
That shift in focus matters now more than ever. Our politics increasingly treats presidents like saviors or villains, as if the whole fate of the country rests on one person.
That’s not democracy; that’s monarchy with better branding. A healthy republic needs strong institutions, active citizens, and leaders who know they are temporary stewards, not anointed rulers.
We don’t need Congress to fix this for us. Teachers can frame lessons around “No Kings Day.” Community groups can host conversations about when presidents respected limits—and when they didn’t. Families can pick one story each year about a president who gave up power for the public good.
If we’re going to have a day off in February, let’s at least make it honest. Celebrate the leaders who strengthened our democracy, confront the ones who weakened it, and remember the principle that started it all: in America, we elect presidents. We do not crown kings.
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