Photo Credit: GPA Photo Archive || FIreworks over New York City — beautiful, huh?
Though my adopted children were all black to some degree, I had not heard of Juneteenth until yesterday. When I read a little more about it, and the efforts of some to make it a Federal Holiday, I thought, “Okay, if Juneteenth became a Federal Holiday, which other Federal Holiday would likely disappear?”
Now some might ask, “Why not just add another Holiday?” I don’t think there’s a free lunch there — if there is less labor, people would get paid less, and that would affect poor people more than those better off.
Anyway, that made me think of doing a Twitter poll to see what holiday people would be willing to do away with. There are ten holidays and I wanted to make sure that each section of the poll would have a “none of the above” as a possibility.
That meant doing ten little polls with randomized competition among holidays. It was a small challenge to create randomized polls that did not have repeats in the choices for any particular poll, and where none of the ten polls were identical to each other. It’s harder than it seems, but using Excel 2007 I was able to get it done in 20 minutes with aid from the lesser known goal seek command.
As you can see, one goal of the polling is to unscientifically determine the least popular holiday. There were a few more goals. I thought it would be possible that some might think that Juneteenth and the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. cover similar topics. Would some people suggest a trade of one for the other?
Also, would “none of the above” get a lot of votes? Are people happy with the current situation? That would indirectly answer the question of how much sympathy there is for Juneteenth as a Federal Holiday.
To that end, I ask my readers if they would be willing to vote on these polls.
I think highly of my readers. I particularly appreciate the way that most of you who choose to comment at my blog are measured in your comments. I don’t have to deal with a lot of off topic or crude comments.
So, if you have a few minutes of time, go ahead and answer the polling questions. I’ll do a post with the results either tomorrow or Friday. Thanks.
PS — the polls cut off in the 2PM hour tomorrow, US Eastern Time.
Columbus Day. Exploitative. Commemorates killing and slavery.
THat’s a bit stiff. There is more to Columbus than that. He is a controversial figure, much like Abraham Lincoln, and many other historical figures that I could name. To only give the bad and not the good is not fair.
I don’t have a twitter account and have no desire to create one.
poll 1 – Independence Day
poll 2 – MLK Day
poll 3 – None
poll 4 – Veterans Day
poll 5 – Independence Day
poll 6 – Independence Day
poll 7 – MLK Day
poll 8 – Columbus Day
poll 9 – MLK Day
poll 0 – Veterans Day
David, what drives my consideration is when these holidays fall. There is no Federal holiday in June. One at the end of May and one at the start of July. Thus I would move Independence Day celebrations [or combine them]. June 19th should be a TX state holiday for sure, but if we need to trade, do so with a nearby holiday. Schools observe some of these. Juneteenth would not affect school schedules. But losing a holiday during the school year would. I’d favor it as a holiday – but as you observe, if simply added, could create a hardship for some. I’d also support making election day a PAID Federal holiday. Everyone gets the day off, and $100 tax credit.
Wow, a $100 Tax Credit for Election Day. That’s what I call real “Walking Around Money” for casting one’s vote!
Have you ever considered running for public office, or perhaps trying your hand at political consulting?
Very interesting poll idea David. I don’t “do” Twitter but I’ll be interested to see how the final results turn out.
Twitter and Facebook embody the worst of social media — hate speech, addiction, and crowd (mob violence) think just to name a few.
No one should be encouraging Twitter
I am confused by these polls–as far as I know, Washington’s Birthday is not a paid holiday, nor is Columbus Day (except in select Northern states with big Italian populations. What gives?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_holidays_in_the_United_States
You are talking about paid holidays off from work, whereas David is taking federal holidays. The two are not synonymous unless one works for the federal government.
Having said that, the extremists are now busy toppling statues of abolitionists. It was pretty absurd when they wrecked Thomas jeffferson statues, because Jefferson didn’t fully live up to the ideals Jefferson wrote. Jefferson freed his slaves in his will, and DNA evidence proves he sired a child with one of his slaves… clearly he liked his slaves, at least one he liked a LOT.
Then they destroyed Abe Lincoln statues, since he was the president who issued the emancipation proclamation. Evidently public schools don’t teach history anymore.
But in upstate New York State, statues of Frederick Douglas have been vandalized. Douglas was a black man, and an abolitionist. What sort of complete ignorance is involved with wrecking statues of Douglas to protest racism?
Another racIal based holiday seems weird when folks forget that Abe Lincoln and Frederick Douglas were two reasons why MLK was able to protest. Jefferson being all too human doesn’t negate the ideals that he strived for.
The destruction of Lincoln and Douglas statues should be an embarrassment to all educated persons.
Forget holidays. Ban public schools that don’t teach anything